Love Primeval
by Annamonk
Summary: Buffy and Oz are magically relocated, but the team gets them back. Will anyone ever be happy again? This is very AU. Joss owns, I just take 'em for a test drive.
1. Prologue

Giles watched in horror as Buffy and Oz fought back to back against the tentacled demons. He locked eyes with Willow standing on the other side of the battlefield and saw her lips begin to move. He felt the race of magic across his skin and saw the rifts start to open. Each rift pulled a demon from the battle. He tried to push toward his slayer and her friend but the forming rifts were pushing him back. He started to ease around toward Willow. She was saving them, but she had to be past her limit already. They were down to two opponents. Buffy and Oz were more than equal to the task. He watched as Oz dropped to the ground and Buffy swirled through the air decapitating both remaining demons in one smooth movement. He felt relief for one blissful second. The migration had been stopped. He watched Willow sag against Xander, blood dripping from her nose.

He rushed toward them, worried for Willow, only to be thrown across the field as a giant rift opened next to Buffy and Oz and pulled them away.


	2. Into the Woods

Buffy awakened with a jerk, her Slayer senses flaring and finding no threat. She looked around at the deep greens and dark browns of the forest surrounding her and took a deep breath. The air was fresh and the scents were all woodsy if unfamiliar. She felt Oz stir behind her, and turned to face him. He groaned and turned on his side. She crawled towards him and checked him out carefully. His green eyes snapped open and locked with her blue grey ones. She smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." She pulled her gaze from his and gestured to the giant forest surrounding them.

"Hunh." He sat up and looked around them.

She watched him take in their lush surroundings as she gathered her weapons bag and his backpack. Glad to find their things intact, Buffy started to think about their immediate safety. Her slayer senses were picking up a great big nothing, but she wasn't going to take a chance in these surroundings.

Oz looked on as Buffy took a quick inventory of their bags. She was on alert; he could read it in her body language. He sniffed the air several times, trying to identify the threat making her tense. There was nothing familiar in the air, just woods and plants and earth. He rolled his neck and winced at the soreness in his shoulder as he shifted.

Buffy chewed on her lower lips and felt her stomach churn. Her slayer sense had to be failing. The constant buzz of evil was missing. It had been there everyday since she had been called, but now it was gone. She reached out with her senses again, but found nothing. Panic raced through her. Her senses seemed to be working, and they were all she had in this strange place. Trusting her inner slayer, Buffy relaxed a bit.

Oz shifted on the ground and she heard the sharp intake of his breath. He was still hurt from their battle with the squid like demons. She looked him over, concerned about his wellbeing. He looked right here in the deep woods. He seemed natural and comfortable here, a wolf thing, no doubt. He looked up at her with his steady green gaze and she smiled reassuringly. He reached out to her as he did when they sparred and she knocked him down. The familiarity of his action soothed her. Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

"I don't sense any threats, but I think we need to get moving. It's pretty here, but we are sitting ducks." She kept her voice low and soft. He nodded and reached for his backpack. She smiled and pushed his hand away. "You've got some bad injuries." She gestured to his bruised shoulder and the odd round hickies the tentacle things had left on his skin. "Let me carry this for a bit."

"Where are the others?" He asked, falling into step behind her.

"Hopefully figuring out where we are, so they can get us home." She looked up at the sun above them. "We need to find some shelter before night falls."

She shifted her burden and closed her eyes. She let her inner slayer surface and scented the air. She felt a joy surge through her body and turned toward the forest letting her instincts guide her.


	3. Home Away From Home

Oz watched Buffy move ahead of him. She kept their pace constant, but the forest seemed to part around them offering no resistance to her. He was used to watching her, taking direction from her. His wolf liked pleasing her. He felt it pushing against him wanting to move closer to her now.

"This is like slayer heaven." She said as she stepped from the shadows of the forest into the dappled glow of the afternoon sun. "Nothing pinging on my spidey sense radar."

She walked around in the sunlight, relaxed and free, exploring the glade they'd stumbled upon.

He felt his wolf respond to her, and tried to think of Willow, but that brought up the image of Xander with his tongue down her throat. He felt the rage boil through him. He stared at the ground, his fists clenched at his sides.

Buffy smiled at him and spun around with her arms flung out wide. He felt the rage slide away as he watched her giggle and fall to the ground in dizzy abandon. He found himself standing over her, looking down into her storm blue gaze. Her golden hair pooled around her head and a rosy flush riding her cheeks, she was beautiful. She always appealed to the creature within him. He had always believed it was because she was the slayer, stronger, faster, a natural leader. Now, he saw that she was the better match for his wolf, loyal, forgiving, caring, and a predator beyond comparison. He wanted to cover her and press her into the ground, to kiss her. He closed his eyes, his mind reeling. Her scent invaded him and he wanted to give in to its siren call, to take up her subtle invitation. The wolf wanted Buffy, but he loved Willow. It wouldn't be right to give into this urge, even with the scent of her arousal fresh on the air. The forest primeval was messing with him, calling out his more animal drives. He opened his eyes and stepped back from Buffy.

She sat up and turned her back to him. He watched her shoulders slump for a moment and wondered at her change of mood.

Oz let his eyes scan for danger. He took in the small pool fed by the tiny waterfall. He walked over and lowered down, running his hand through the water he cupped some and sniffed it. He heard Buffy get up and move toward the rock face about thirty feet from him. He turned in time to watch her scramble up the side to a small outcropping of stone about twenty feet high.

Her head popped over the side. "Can you make the climb? I think I've found home sweet home. Its small, definitely an efficiency, but the view rocks." He heard her giggle. He looked for the handholds and grips he would need and realized the climb was easier than it looked. He rolled his shoulders and followed her scent up the wall easily even with his sore shoulder.

Buffy listened to him climb up, hearing him inhale and exhale with the effort. She remembered that odd moment in the field below when she had longed for him to cover her body with his. The inner slayer had been attracted to him for some time, she loved sparring with him, loved sitting quietly with him, and she loved patrolling with him. She grinned to herself. She sure did have a flare for using the word love.

She thought of Angel, and felt the guilt rise. She loved Angel, but their time had ended when Angelus had emerged. She could never be with him again. Their relationship had died with his first victim. Even if the curse weren't an issue, kissing him brought Jenny's face and so many others rushing to the fore. The guilt she felt for sending him to hell wasn't a basis for a loving relationship. They were just friends. She couldn't have Angel.

She couldn't very well have Oz either. Willow's Oz, he was Willow's. Maybe Willow had screwed up, but he'd forgive her eventually. He loved Willow, her best friend.

Buffy squared her shoulders. Slayers weren't forever girls anyway. There wasn't going to be a happily ever after for her. No front porch, no grandchildren, no mortgage, no future at all. She closed her eyes as a rush of longing coursed through her. She knew better than to dwell on the future her destiny had taken from her.

She turned around and looked at the small cave. It was big enough for the two of them to share. She closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. This place pulled at her, made her want to sink into it. The forest was lovely, the air clean. She felt him come up behind her, and pushed the giddy rush she felt down.

"Not bad, Buffy. There's a lot more here than it looked like from below."

"I know, not bad at all." She turned and half smiled at him. "I think this is home base until they can get us back."

"Spartan, but homey." He tossed his backpack down next to the wall. "Will it keep us safe from more than the elements? I mean if that's a problem here."

"I'll keep you safe, Oz. We will get back. It might take a while, but Giles will figure it out." Buffy smiled sadly.


	4. Twenty Four Days

Buffy sat high up on the rocks above their home. It was home now. Where they were, where he was, it was home. They'd been here for twenty-four days. She wrapped her arms around her legs and sobbed. She rocked back and forth and let her tears flow. She knew it was weak to give in to this wretched sadness, but she had no choice.

Twenty-four days and she had discovered that living without modern amenities wasn't a hardship. Her mind accessed some sort of slayer memory files when she needed knowledge. She knew how to weave baskets, trap food, dress it, and tan the skins and furs.

No, she actually liked living here. A real shower and some soap wouldn't be bad, but she was content with their lot. Oz would read to her at night while she sharpened blades or worked on traps. She'd limited their time together when she realized that much as she missed their friends she didn't want them to pull her away from this place, or from Oz, Willow's Oz.

He felt so right to her. He was quiet and restful. He was stronger than he looked because of the wolf. He was smart, spending hours working with her on French and forcing her to study her other subjects for a bit each day. He was steady and patient. She just liked being with him. She would lie awake at night listening to him breath as he slept on the pile of furs she had provided. She liked providing for him. It was the only thing she could do, furs and food. There was nothing to keep him safe from, no demons to fight.

She would keep him warm and well fed. She would get him home and see him settled back into the life he deserved. She didn't want to leave, but she hoped they got here soon. She knew that watching him from afar would be torture, but back in their world she would have slaying and a short span to fill without him. Each day with him now was torture as well, falling more in love and knowing it could go nowhere. He deserved so much more than a slayer, so much more than what she had to offer. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall until sleep claimed her.

Oz found her curled on her side with her tear stained face half covered by her hair. He sat and watched her. She was hiding from him more and more everyday, and it tore at him to find her curled up with the misery that seemed to follow her everywhere so evident on her face.

Being with her day in and day out had been a revelation. He had known she was powerful and beautiful. He had even been aware she was a kind and devoted friend, but she was so much more than he had realized. She made their lives easier, and never expected anything in return. She laughed easily and paid attention to him. She could babble, but she could be comfortably quiet, weaving baskets or making wooden bowls while he read aloud or simply hummed. He knew things that would embarrass her because of his sensory abilities. He knew she wasn't longing for home though she would claim that if he caught her looking sad. He knew she wanted him. Every time the delicious scent of her arousal tickled his nose, she would disappear. He had started following her recently, not wanting the separation. Every minute spent with her was precious to him.

He watched her sleep for a while and then retreated, respecting her privacy. He wanted to talk to her about her increasing absences, her obvious distress, but he knew she wasn't ready. He wasn't ready either. He needed to think and to hear the music that swelled up inside of him whenever she was near. They wouldn't be dating if they took their relationship to the next level here, it would be mating.


	5. Sixty Days

Oz watched Buffy work on tanning yet another fur, she was setting it to smoke. She did most of the work at a stream not too far away. In fact, she did everything but sleep not too far away. She hunted and she gathered. She did things, like tanning leather and furs. He didn't even know how she had learned to do all the things she did.

He worried about her constantly. The giggling girl from their first day had disappeared. She had retreated, leaving determined slayer behind. Her roots were showing and she looked tired all the time, but she was more beautiful than ever. He knew she wasn't sleeping well, but he didn't know what to do. They had become adept at not talking over the last sixty days.

She pulled the furs from over her smoke pit and tossed dirt onto the fire, making sure nothing would flare up. Her body glistened with sweat. He started thinking about chords and music. She filled his head with symphonies and rock songs, ballads and anthems. He had never been so inspired to write music. W

"Buffy, we need to talk." He watched her eyes swing to him, caught a glimmer of something as she looked through him rather than at him.

"So, talk." She looked at him, finally, her body tensed for flight. "I have to check the traps soon."

"Buffy, you need to sit down." She grimaced, but sat next to him on the large log. She turned and focused on his face. "I know you've noticed the moon cycle here. It's slower than the one back home, but the moon is getting closer to full and we haven't discussed how to manage it."

Buffy looked down and made a face. "I think you'll have to change and I'll knock you out if worse comes to worst."

"I thought about building a cage, but I don't have the skill, or the materials. I'm worried about what this moon will do to me. I can feel it really strongly. You don't have any slayer memory stuff that might help, do you?"

"I promised to keep you safe, Oz. I'll do it." She lowered her gaze to her hands.

"You won't if you're so tired you're on the verge of collapse. Leave the traps until tomorrow. Let's go for a swim and then have a nice night. I'll read to you." He smiled and watched emotions flit across her face. "You're in survival mode, and I love all the soft bed piles and the good food, but I need company."

She looked around at anything but him until he grabbed her chin and turned her head toward him. She closed her eyes to keep from looking at him and he grinned. "Buffy, what is going on?"

"You don't want to know, not really." She finally opened her eyes gazing at him. She raised her fingers up to his face and tucked his hair behind his ear.

"Yes, I do really." He growled a little to emphasize the statement. She closed her eyes and he felt a quiver run through her. He took a deep breath and pulled her scent into him, and his eyes flashed to hers. Her lips were parted slightly, her eyes fluttered open, their glazed blue depths slightly unfocused. "I need you to say it Buffy."

"If I spend anymore time with you, I'll go mad. So, you're shaving with a knife and neither of us has been near hair dye, or even soap since we landed here. You are still the yummiest thing I've ever seen, but it doesn't matter. When we get home, everything will go back to normal. I'll be in real danger, and you will be Willow's." She took a deep breath to continue her diatribe, and he put one finger against her lips.

"Stop babbling for a second." He looked at her and tilted his head. "I am Willow's ex. She cheated on me, so if we could leave her out of this, all the better. I want to know what that other bit about the danger is."

"Really, leave her out of it?"

"Yes. Buffy." He growled again and delighted as the scent of her arousal grew. "Now give over some details about the danger."

"Oz, I'm the slayer. You know this. I don't have a future, or at least not much of one. You are a forever kind of guy. You should have someone good and kind, someone to be there to hold your hand when you watch your grandchildren play in the yard. I want that for you. I want that forever love for you. I don't have forever. Hell, even this is like a fantasy. Here, there's nothing to slay, no real danger for me to handle. There are no crazy vampires, power hungry demons, or annoying principals. It's like a really nice vacation without the amenities, but when we get back I'll be on the front lines again. Slayers die young." She pulled her face away from his fingers and swiped at her tears.

He watched her, aching. She curled into herself, shaking. He pulled her back and cradled her against his body. Her small frame tucked neatly within his arms, he hummed soothingly in her ear. When the shaking stopped he kissed her temples and felt her tears splash against his chest. It bothered him that she didn't see a future, made him want to howl. He felt his wolf surging inside him.

"Buffy, it's too late for you to be noble. When you go a part of me will go, too. It was a little part at first. The pain of a friend lost, but now you'll take more. Even if we just hold this thing between us as it is, I will lose so much when you go because I'll lose the possibility of the real joy, the life with you. I'd rather have our time for as long as we can. I'd rather store up happy memories for the future. We only have now, and you are very much alive now."

He tilted his head and stared into her red-rimmed eyes. He felt the wolf pushing him toward her. For once he was more than happy to give in. He pulled her body flush against his and kissed her. She stiffened in his arms, and he growled against her mouth and returned to kissing her. He felt her hand flutter against his chest and suddenly she was kissing him back.

Little mews escaped Buffy as Oz traced her jawline with nips and kisses. His rumbling, growling laughter filled her with warmth. She pulled him closer rolling him onto his back in the fragrant grass. She pushed up and stared down into his eyes with a tender expression. He felt the awe of her, the raw power that coursed through her diminutive body. "So you want to be my wolf, do you?" She giggled and leaned close to him. "Then you'll have to catch me." She sprang away trailing laughter behind her.

Oz sat up and watched her head toward the forest. He felt the wolf wanting, demanding to chase her. He closed his eyes and stood up, waiting. She wanted her game, but he wanted more than a game. He rolled his shoulders and cocked his head listening until he heard her breathing still within the cover of trees, but nearer to their pool. He opened his eyes and took off in her direction.

She squealed, burst from the tree cover and took off toward their home. He grinned and followed keeping up the chase for her benefit. Leading him on a merry chase right to their home, he shook his head at her silliness, but picked up the pace.

He climbed up the wall, and popped up on to the ledge. Oz admired the picture she presented, bent over smoothing their formerly separate sleeping furs into one giant pile. He tilted his head and waited for her to turn around. She stood up and pulled her worn tee shirt off over her head, revealing her lovely back. The faded shirt flew from her fingers toward him. He caught it and pulled it to his nose, inhaling her scent and reveling in the desire pouring out from her. He reached out and ran his hands lightly from her waist to her shoulders, before pulling her back against his chest and biting down on the nape of her neck. She moaned low in her throat at the pressure of his bite.

"You could have put a little more into the chase." She teased him and ran her fingers along his arms as he wrapped them around her.

"Yes." He continued kissing her working from her neck to her shoulder and back again, pulling moans from deep within her delicate body.

"I could have made it more of a challenge." She whimpered as he pulled her around and looked into her eyes.

"Two months, Buffy. More than enough." He lowered his mouth to hers and devoured her mouth. She shivered and pulled him closer, letting her hands trace the hard muscles of his chest and arms. He shivered under her touch, and leaned his forehead against her. "This isn't your first time and it isn't mine, I know that, but its our first time, and I want it to be our last first time."

She pulled back and looked into his eyes. He stared back steadily. She nodded slowly, biting her lip. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." He pressed a kiss to her lips, and held her as she started to shake against him. They collapsed into the furs and he petted her, weathering the storm with her.

"I love you, Oz." Her soft declaration wrapped around his heart.

"I'll need to hear that a lot. Okay?" He smiled at the flash of irritation in her eyes. "We wouldn't want my wolfie side to feel insecure."

He ran his fingers along the waistband of her cutoffs. Dipping his fingers just under the lip of the fabric. Her skin was incredibly warm. Her scent, cinnamon, vanilla, and wood smoke, teased his nose. He lowered his head and kissed from her lips down her neck and across her collarbone.

"Oz," she gasped as he trailed one hand up to cup under her breast. He let his breath tease across the hardened nub of her nipple. "Never mind."

"I love you, too. Buffy, that's why we're here in the bed you made for us." He looked up at her letting his eyes flash with the wolf's passion. He watched her gulp. "You make me feel whole and peaceful."

He pushed up and pressed their bodies together. "This is forever, Buffy. You are a forever kind of girl. My forever kind of girl."

She grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down to her lips. They pushed off the last of their clothing and lay there just warm in each other's arms for a time.

He enjoyed holding her cradled within the grasp of her arms and legs. The passion banked in the perfect moment. He pressed soft kisses against her eyes, the tip of her nose, and the corners of her mouth before losing himself to the passion of her mouth. Their tongues battled and pressed against each other. He felt her sliding on their furs, moving under him. He pulled up his head and raised an eyebrow. "Are you in a hurry?"

"Kinda. I'm ready for forever now." She smiled and pulled him toward her sodden core.

He slid into the cradle of her hips and kissed her with gentle nips. She groaned and tilted her head back, exposing her neck to him. Her racing pulse throbbed under his tongue as he lavished her throat with his attention. He felt her legs pull up around him. He smiled against her throat.

"Please, Oz." She pulled her chin down and looked up at him biting her lower lip. He grinned down at her.

"What do you want, love?" She arched her hips up and pressed her body along his until she felt his tip at her entrance. He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Are you sure?"

She groaned and tried to move against him. He kissed her and growled against her lips. She stilled. "Buffy, I need you to be sure."

He watched her eyes, felt her tense. She leaned up and bit his neck. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. We're forever kind of people."


	6. Symbology

Buffy threw her head back as Oz thrust into her and stilled. Her body quaked around his, and she pulled him tight to her with her arms and legs. She closed her eyes and buried her nose against his neck and pulled his scent into her lungs. She could hear his breathing against her ear as he did the same to her. A smile burst across her face and she loosened her grip so that he could push back and look down at her.

She knew home would always be with this man. She felt the bond forming. It felt like a liquid flowing through her, filling in the cracks and crevices with a glowing warmth. Her inner slayer hummed, seeming to revel in the joining. He looked at her with glowing green eyes. She wondered if hers were glowing as well.

"They are like sapphires. I love you, Buffy." He slid back until just his tip rested in her before slowly thrusting home. He quivered under his hands. She pushed back the auburn hair from his forehead and trailed kisses there as he gasped.

"You don't have to be gentle, Oz. I can take it." She felt the inner slayer purr as he started to plunge into her. Their eyes locked and she licked her lips as she writhed beneath him. She felt his movements stutter to a halt when their bond touched on the one she had with Giles. "He's my watcher. He swore an oath. It's a thing."

"I get it, no threat to me. Am I welcome to it?" He pushed into her again and held still waiting for her answer.

"You are home, it's all yours now, but if you stop again I'll have to hurt you." She flipped him on to his back and sat up, sliding his cock deeper into her body. She started to ride him, trying to catch a rhythm. He grabbed her hips and guided her. She closed her eyes and suddenly she could sense herself moving through him. She was still physically riding him, but she was aware of the liquid warmth of their bond spreading through him.

She reeled in his mind. There was so much music, bits and pieces, movements and lyrics. She could sense his thoughts, his sense of wonder as he explored her mind. She felt his joy in this moment of bonding and it made her own seem to swell. She tossed her hair back and rolled her body against his feeling the ripples of his pleasure. She was lost in the sensations, the bliss of their union.

She opened her eyes and looked down at his chest, feeling the urge to mark him, she opened herself to her slayer and felt a tingle as she traced a strange symbol of spirals above his heart. She opened her eyes to see the design form into his skin, a glowing tattoo. She felt a warmth heating her shoulder where his hand clasped her and knew she would carry his mark as well.

Their eyes locked and she lowered her lips to his, twining their tongues. She felt him swell within her body as his body crested and released into hers. She lost track of everything as her universe narrowed down to the sensation of his orgasm and his continued thrusting. She felt something gathering low inside her. She felt power growing within her and suddenly it ignited, exploding within her. Their voices mingled in screams of joy as their bodies and souls finished with the magic and they collapsed sweaty and replete.

Buffy slid her body down Oz until she was tucked into his side. His hand rubbed along her back slowly. She traced her finger along the blue tattoo over his heart. "I hope you don't mind it." She looked up at him through her lashes, and saw the quick flash of a smile as he leaned up to look at her handiwork. He traced the swirls.

"Love it." He lay back down. "Love you."

"I love mine, too." She said as she wiggled and twisted to get a better look at it. "Mom's gonna freak, though."

Oz's eyebrow shot up and Buffy giggled. "If the tattoo freaks her the werewolf son in law could be a real problem."

"Son in law?" She squeaked.

"Go to sleep, Buffy." He smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Let's enjoy the honeymoon, okay?"


	7. The Small Things

Oz woke up to a stream of unfamiliar images of Willow and felt depression swamp him. The guilt and the grief pulled at him until he forced his eyes open and sat up looking for Buffy. These were her thoughts and emotions. He found her sitting on the ledge looking out into the night. Her naked back lit by the warm glow of the recently stoked fire.

"So, regrets?" He asked as he walked towards her.

"No. I love you. I was just thinking about how she'll hate me."

He sat down behind her and pulled her back against his chest.

"Maybe not."

"Oz, we are best friends. I am so breaking the girlfriend's code here. I'm not just putting a crack or two in it. I shattered the thing."

"So, regrets." He stated, and leaned his chin on her shoulder.

"No, it's not regrets for what we've done, more like sorrow that she'll lose it when she finds out. I want them all to be happy for us, but the chances they'll even understand are slim." She pressed back against him.

"They'll deal."

"They'll have to. I just wish we could have done this the traditional human way."

"You mean with the movies, the hand holding, the slow dances, and the stolen kisses?"

"Well, I was thinking more the rings and the white dress things, but yeah. It would be easier for them if they saw that build up."

"Buffy, we've had build up. This didn't happen fast or easy."

'It'll seem that way to them."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Giles. I can feel Giles and he's moving slower than ever. He's usually like quicksilver. His mind never stops, but it's barely moving now. When I went into hell last summer it was like that, but not slow. He went into hyper drive."

"Can you pick up his thoughts?"

"Never, I used to think it was just a thing, but now I'll bet he uses some meditation or mojo to control it."

"Why couldn't he find you last summer? I mean our bonds are different, but I think I could use it to find you." He wrapped an arm around her and held her closer.

"I'm not going anywhere, honey." She rubbed her hand along his. She looked up at the giant moon. "It'll be full soon. I wonder what the bond will be like when you're wolfy."

"You like to borrow trouble." Oz smiled against her hair as he felt her indignation. "You worry about what Willow will feel, how everyone will react to us. Hell, you tried to avoid there being an us because you were worried about dying. I know you're a big picture girl. You save the world all the time, but I just want to share your world. Think we can try to find balance between the small things and the world saving? I mean does it need saving right now?"

" No it doesn't need saving, not tonight." She twisted in his arms and pressed him down, kissing him.


	8. Our Happy Home

Giles stepped through the portal into a bright, sunny clearing, and took off as he felt his bond with Buffy vibrate. She was fighting something. He found a well-worn path and ran for all he was worth.

The sound of her vibrant laughter pulled him up short just inside the cover of the trees. He watched as she cocked a hip before charging back into battle with Oz. He felt relief wash through him. She was training. He watched them fight with quarterstaves, their movements fast and acrobatic. They were so engrossed in the battle that he stepped into the meadow and watched them until Buffy knocked Oz to the ground before he saw her become aware of him.

Buffy charged across the field and leapt into his arms hugging him. He watched Oz prop himself up on his elbows and smile at them. He closed his eyes and let the fear and worries drain from his system.

Buffy pulled back and touched his face. "I have missed you so much, watcher mine."

"I think you've been apart from me a tad longer than I've been apart from you, but I've missed you as well." He pulled her against him again and let the joy of knowing she was safe fill him.

"How long have we been gone?" Buffy mumbled against his chest.

"About three hours. How long have you been here?"

"Almost a year." Oz answered. "Hey Buffy why don't you head up and check on lunch. I'll keep Giles busy. I promise."

She shifted back from his chest and smiled up at him. Giles wanted to pull her back for one more hug, but he let her go. Oz walked over and watched her scale the rock wall to their home quickly.

"Don't worry we have a ladder as well. I'm sorry I ended your reunion, but she was starting to worry about things. Better an active slayer than a weeping one."

Giles watched as the younger man started to gather the assortment of wooden weapons into a large basket, and bent to help. "These are nicely made." He fingered the edge of he wooden blade and was surprised.

"Yeah, that's all Buffy. She didn't want to waste our metal weapons on training so she started making these. We've been lucky. There is very little danger here. We found some larger game animals and one moderately large cat like predator, but it's been like vacation from demon slaying for Buffy." Giles watched as Oz wiped each weapon with a piece of worn denim and then wrapped them in a blue chamois like skins. The basket the weapons went into had a lovely pattern depicting the phases of the moon woven into it.

Giles jolted at a clattering sound of the ladder falling against the rock face. He looked around and felt as if he had fallen through the looking glass. He touched on his bond with Buffy seeking reassurance, and felt her happily fussing. It warmed him.

"Soups on. We'd better get up there. She'll start thinking again." Oz looked sadly around the meadow. "Wish I had a camera."

"Why don't you want her thinking?" Giles wondered at the young man's clearly evident sadness.

"I guess I don't want her to dwell on the changes we can't avoid. She's been happy here. It will be tough to go back as changed as we are. She's been pain free, demon free, and slay free. Expectations are a problem."

"She has a duty, a life, and I can't imagine she would ever shirk her responsibilities again."

"She's already packing our things. She'll never tell you that a part of her wants to stay."

"Buffy wants to stay here?"

"Welcome to our home. It's a little stone age, but we've come to appreciate it." Giles watched as Oz bent to lift the basket and then stopped. "I guess I don't need to haul it up today. Go on up." He gestured to the ladder. "I need to pull the traps. I don't want to hurt something we won't need."

Oz walked away, one hand rubbing the back of his neck.


	9. Baby Steps

Giles looked around the cave his slayer had made her home as he sat on the ledge and ate from the wooden bowl he had been handed. The spoon was unexpected and he held up the shiny metal object.

"Oz had a couple in his back pack. He was working on a song with a section of spoon playing. Gotta love the Dingoes." Buffy shook her head and busied herself digging around in plainer baskets.

"The bowl is lovely, very smooth and easy to use. The stew is quite good as well. What am I eating?"

"It's a squirrel like thing. Useless for anything but meat, but it tastes quite good."

"I guess we won't need the tools." She muttered as she packed books into a well worn backpack.

He studied the tense line of her back and noted the whiteness of her lips as she pressed them closed. Some part of her was always in motion, sorting, packing, avoiding looking directly at him. She was blocking him from her emotional turmoil, a skill she'd never even been aware she could develop before her extended stay here. He rubbed his hand through his hair. This was going to be hard. He needed to help her, to get her talking.

"How many traps did you have set? Oz has been gone for quite a while." Giles watched her body still.

"He finished with the traps a while ago. He just needs a few minutes. Leaving here sucks in a way, we were happy here. It was hard at first. We both missed so much, but we made due. Then one day we were happy. It's been hours for you and nearly a year for us, Giles."

"Did you think I wouldn't find a way to get you back?"

"I knew you would, so did Oz. But you can't be happy if you're always waiting for tomorrow to live your life. We are very different now. You'll keep up with the changes, but will Mom? What about our friends?"

"Buffy, you need to sit and talk with me. I'll help you readjust. Tell me what you need." He watched as she pulled up the sleeve of the faded tee shirt and rubbed her arm.

"We're together now. Oz and I have been together for nearly eight months. It's been a nice honeymoon, but no one is expecting a couply us. You've been in our home and you didn't see it. Of course that might be willful blindness, can't really pull your thoughts through the bond when your shielding is up."

"H- h- honeymoon?" Giles pulled his glasses off and started cleaning them with his handkerchief.

"Goodness this was easy. I'm really looking forward to telling Willow." Giles watched as she went back to packing. "It doesn't look like much, but most of this is stuff I made. I'm a good little cave slayer. How am I supposed to sleep without him? Hell, what if his family hates me?"

Giles felt his mind reel as she flipped from unimportant matters to weighty ones without missing a beat. He needed to get her to think, to use reason.

"Perhaps you should try dating once we return. Make sure you want this relationship. A grand romance on holiday may be a paltry thing when you're at home." He felt a stab of pain from the bond and jerked.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Buffy looked at him, unrepentant.

"Buffy, how did you do it?" Giles went into research mode.

"Our bond is a lot like the one I share with Oz. I've learned a lot. If you didn't keep such a lockdown on your end I could show you what Oz is looking at right now. Let you feel what both of us are feeling. I'm not sure how much verbal communication is possible through our bond because we've never worked with it. Oz and I can talk in a way when he's wolfy, so I bet we could develop it."

"You have a bond like this with Oz?"

"Actually, it's a bit more developed and kind of a different flavor. Since we mated, Right now he's sitting on a flat rock by where we dress our meat. The wolf likes it there. He'll be back soon." She wrinkled her nose and shrugged.

"You're mated to a werewolf. I understood there was intimacy, but I hadn't realized. I should have, but it has been such a short time for me. I look at you and I can see the differences. I'm afraid my mind isn't wrapping around this deal as quickly as you had hoped."

"It's okay, Giles. I get it. You were expecting the three hour tour and found out we've been hanging with the professor and Maryanne."

Giles looked at the dejected line of her shoulders as she looked out over the extraordinary view, and he felt a twinge of guilt. She was not the girl that had left the library this evening to stop a group of migrating demons from feeding on humans as the passed through Sunnydale.

"Mom's still gonna flip, and I still have to rip out Willow's heart and dance on it."

"I imagine Angel will be rather upset as well."

"Yeah. So, happy couple returns from honeymoon to supportive and loving family and friends is a great big no." She walked over and plopped down in Giles' lap. He pulled her in and held her close.

"We will figure it out." He promised her and let her feel his commitment through the bond.

"Baby steps, Giles, baby steps."


	10. Less Than Ten Paces

Oz shouldered one of their carrying baskets, and picked up the handle of the weapons basket waiting for Buffy to quit trying to shove something into her carry basket. Her obvious distress was tearing at him.

"Just let Giles carry it. He's already got the back pack and the weapons bag." Oz watched as she slumped.

"Fine." Buffy turned toward him and pouted. He smiled and winked at her.

Giles rolled his eyes and pulled the small blue skin wrapped item from her hands. He opened it and found several very large crystals. They were different from any others he had encountered.

"They're pretty, and I find them soothing." Buffy shrugged and started checking the rest of her gear.

"Buffy, we are going to walk less than ten paces." Giles spoke patiently.

Buffy slid into the harness on her basket and grabbed the other handle on their weapons basket. Oz felt her crying through the bond, but her eyes remained dry.

"Think about it, Buffy. In a few minutes there will be a hot shower and soap waiting for you." Oz teased her.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

He watched as Giles poured some powder in a circle around them and opened the portal. Giles stepped through first and then they stepped through together.

Suddenly being in the library was shocking. The scents were overwhelming. Oz quickly shed his basket and took several deep breaths. He closed his eyes and shook his head only to be knocked to the ground as Willow hurtled herself into his chest.

"Your home and your safe." She sobbed against him.

"Yeah, safe and sound." He pushed her off of his lap and stood up. He stepped back as she sprang at him again. He felt panic rising within him.

"Willow, let the man be." Giles stepped between her and Oz. He frowned at her, but she was already trying to force her way around him to get to the werewolf.

Xander smiled at Buffy. "What's with the funky leather pants and vest, and what happened to your hair?"

"I made the pants. There was no hair dye and no salons to visit. We were very deprived." She shifted positions until she was standing next to Oz.

Giles watched as the couple started to retreat from their friends and felt a rush of pity. They were already so unhappy. This wasn't helping.

"Perhaps we should let them get cleaned up." He tried to capture Willow's gaze, but failing he turned to Oz and Buffy. "You both have extra gear here. Go shower." He watched as they grinned at each other.

"Showers and soap, shampoo and conditioner." Buffy laughed and bounced as she shed her basket. She squealed and popped into the office with Oz fast on her heals. They emerged with their extra gear and headed toward the double doors. Willow went to follow them and Giles snagged her arm, bringing her to a stop.

"Let them clean up. They've been gone for a long while. They need time to adjust." Giles used his sternest voice.

"They were gone for three hours, Giles." Willow snapped at him.

"Three of our hours, nearly a year for them. They need some time. It was very different there. You need to be patient." He frowned at her.

"But I need to talk to Oz. I need to tell him how I feel." She started toward the doors again. Giles felt anger swell inside him. Willow was usually so perceptive, and her oblivious reaction to their pain puzzled him,

"It's been much longer for him than for you, Willow. Think less of your own needs and more of your friends'." Giles glared at her until she flounced back to her seat at the long wooden table.

"What was it like, where they were?" Willow's voice shook a bit. Her hands worried at the hem of her rainbow colored sweater. "How bad was it?"

"It wasn't bad, Willow. It was, however, very different. Their lives moved on without us. They survived. They even seemed to be thriving. You need to account for that time. Nothing here is fresh in their minds." Giles smiled at the young witch trying to offer some comfort.

"If he's had a year, maybe he's already forgiven me." Her face brightened and Giles wanted to groan. "We can just go back to everything being normal and good."

Giles watched as she turned and started reading a spell book. He wanted things to go smoothly, but it seemed unlikely. He stood watching the young witch twist her hair around her fingers while glancing at the double doors. He looked at Xander to gauge his reaction and found the young man staring right at him.

"It wasn't bad though." Xander looked at him straight in the eye. "They were safe and it wasn't bad."

"They were safe. It was a very pretty place. You don't have to worry Xander. I'm sure they will tell us everything about their trip in their own time."


	11. Lost Along The Way

Buffy pulled Oz into the girls' locker room and smiled at the sinks and the shower stalls. She tossed her bag on a bench and pulled out three bottles while Oz spun around taking in the forbidden scenery.

"It's so neat in here."

"The wonder of the ladies' locker room is cleanliness, not neatness. Let's shower. I'll let you scrub my back." He pulled his tee over his head and smiled at her as she started unlacing his pants. She squirmed at the rush of heat through her body.

"Will you wash my hair for me?" He breathed the question against her ear.

"Of course I will that's what good mates do." She looked at him and pulled a silly face before she traced her fingers up and down his chest, flicking his nipples.

"Yes, you are the Donna Reed of werewolf mates." He laughed and stepped back from her as she pinched at him. "Hey, hey, no mate abuse, now."

"Well, then it'll just have to wait 'til later." She pouted a bit, letting her lower lip jut out teasingly. She sat down and leaned back on the wooden bench. Letting her eyes drift along his body, she waited for him to strip off his leather pants.

Oz smiled down at Buffy and enjoyed the moment of peace. He reached down and pushed her legs apart leaving enough room for him to sit facing her on the bench. He unlaced the front closure of her vest and pushed it off her shoulders letting it slide down to drape on the bench behind her.

Buffy smiled and sat up bringing them nose-to-nose. She twisted her fingers in his over long hair and tilted her head slightly pulling him in for a long wet kiss. She moaned deep in her throat and moved until she was straddling his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist. She felt him smile against her lips and he thrust against her before pulling away and standing up.

Buffy growled up at him and grabbed his hips. She looked at him and pushed his pants off freeing his cock. She ran a finger along it and smiled at his answering growl.

"I need to get out of my clothes too. Go start the water, and I'll join you." He walked backwards watching her. Buffy smiled and shooed him with her fingers.

She stripped off her clothes and picked up the bottles. The walk to the showers seemed to take forever. Thoughts of their home filled her. She looked up and watched him tum under the warm spray and hold out his arms.

"It'll be okay, Buffy." His arms wrapped around her as she sobbed.

"I want to go home." She said against his throat.

"It was only a temporary home. We will make a new home here. I promise. We'll do it. I love you. Come on, baby, let go of the bottles and let me take care of you." She let him pull the bottles out of her hands and leaned her head against the mark riding above his heart. "We will find a new home."

"It'll need to be soon, Oz. I can't do this world without you."

"You don't have to do anything without me. We will work this out. I promise." She pulled his lips down to hers and kissed him. Her desperation filled them both. He could feel the pain starting to seep into her conscious mind and tried to pull back.

"Let me have this." She kissed up and down his neck and bit his earlobe lightly. "I need to do this before it swamps me. Okay?"

Oz pulled back from her and kissed her on the nose playfully. He ran his hands along her sides, tickling her. He caught her small burst of outraged laughter as he brought their lips together and pushed Buffy back against the shower wall.

Her hands slid along the cool white tile looking for purchase as he splayed his fingers across her belly and slowly slid his hand down until his fingers nestled against her core. He smiled and kissed her temple when she started squirming against his hand.

"Are you going to make me beg?" Buffy panted in his ear. "Or do you just want me on my knees?"

"Either works." He tilted his head and slid his fingers into her warmth, spearing into her deeply and feeling her tremble. "But, I'd rather be the one on my knees if it's all the same to you."

He trailed kisses down from her shoulders to her nipples. Sucking gently, he waited for her to move. She started to thrust against his hand and moaned low and deep in her body. He dropped to his knees as she crested her first wave of orgasm, nuzzling his nose and mouth against her. He bit gently on her clitoris and relished the feeling of her fingers as she drove them into his hair holding him to her. He thrust his fingers deep into her again and again while licking at the juices dripping from her. He smiled as she finally lost it completely and he felt her body go slack.

He worked his way up her body, running his tongue along her stomach and nuzzling the sensitive undersides of her breasts as she quivered caught between his body and the wall. He grinned at her soft whimpers and mews. He nudged her legs apart with his knees and slid up to look into his mate's eyes.

He watched her eyes flutter open as he held himself still at her entrance, waiting. She reached up with one shaking hand and traced his lips before he leaned in and kissed her. Then, as their tongues entwined, he thrust home and felt her body quake as she fell to pieces in his arms. He managed a few thrusts before he followed her over with his head buried against her shoulder. He smiled as he felt her soaring above the pain and pressure of their environment.

Tears joined with the shower spray as he felt the pain of their loss weigh on him. Their home was gone, and he wasn't sure how to move forward. He held her body and locked her out of his turmoil. They had talked about their return, but the reality was daunting. He felt Buffy hug him tighter, and he kissed along her collarbone. She had the world to save here, and he had her to save.


	12. Return of the Slayer

Giles groaned inwardly as he watched Willow jerk when Oz returned carrying Buffy. Buffy was wearing a pink skirt and a floral halter-top. The green tattoo on her upper arm was clearly visible. She looked tiny even in Oz's arms.

"She just crashed while I was getting the tangles out of her hair. Your office?" Oz slid into the darkened room and laid her down on the couch carefully. He popped out and dug into one of the baskets pulling a large white fur free and giving it a good shake before heading back into the office to cover her.

"We are going to have to get out of here before too long. Have you called her Mom?" The werewolf paced for a few minutes. "This is harder on her than I imagined. She's in pain. Her slayer sense is flaring. It's going to take a few days for her to acclimate to things here."

"Joyce wants her home, but I've managed to put her off. You are both welcome to stay at my place for the remainder of the night."

"Thanks. I'll load the van."

Xander walked up next to Oz. "Can I carry some stuff for you?"

"Sure, grab the weapons basket handle. Thanks, Xand." Oz picked up the other side of the basket and snagged their weapons bag on the way out.

The two young men walked from the room in silence, leaving Giles with an angry and confused Willow.

"He'll talk to Xander, but he won't even look at me?" She looked up at Giles and frowned. "I need to talk to Buffy."

"Willow, stop. You don't want to make a huge fracas now. Talk to them both after things have settled down."

"But I need to talk right now, Giles." She started to sidestep around him.

"Stop right there, Willow." Oz snarled from the door. "Let her sleep. She can't make this all better for you, so leave her alone."

"Why aren't you happy to see me?" She pouted.

"I'm not unhappy to see you, but things have changed. Some of them changed a long time ago, and I can't handle your histrionics right now. So, stand aside."

"So, you are punishing me for kissing Xander."

Oz shook his head and picked up his backpack. "That was a long time ago for me. I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm getting my job done."

"What's your job? I'll help."

He turned and growled at her. "Leave it, Willow. I don't have time for this."

"You guys are home, you are safe. Why can't you take five minutes to talk with me?" Willow's voice grated on his nerves. "What job could be more important than that?"

"Fine, you want to talk about this, Let's talk. Your best friend is in so much pain that Giles is feeling it. Look at how pale he's gotten. I need to get her out of here where she can manage the adjustment. That is my job."

Xander grabbed one of the baskets with the harnesses attached and started to carry it out to the van. Giles grabbed the backpack and the blue chamois wrapped bundle and followed him.

"She's in pain?" Willow's chin started to quiver.

Oz ignored her question "We'll have a nice talk tomorrow, but for now please let me help her without the drama." Oz turned and pulled the basket on sliding into the harness easily. He slung the bags from their shower onto one arm and headed out to his van.

Buffy started to whimper and toss in her sleep. She was thrashing on the couch before Oz got back. He burst through the doors at a run and slid to a stop at the office door. He walked in slowly and pushed a lock of hair back from her face.

Willow watched as he gathered Buffy into his arms, singing softly into her ear until she was still again. He breathed a sigh of relief and carried her out to the van as well. Willow trailed behind him closing the doors as she went, trying to figure out how to make him see how sorry she was.

Oz buckled Buffy into the passenger seat and turned to find Willow standing right behind him. He flinched away from her outstretched hand and growled.

"I'll go with you. I'm sure I can help." Willow tried to step closer to the van and Oz blocked her path.

"Let Xander take you home. If we need you, I promise we will call." He gently pushed Willow toward Xander.

The van ride was difficult. Buffy was moaning by the time they got to Giles' flat. The sounds were guttural, deep and painful to hear. Oz rested his head against the steering wheel for a second, praying for strength. He felt Buffy's hand slide along his arm as she surfaced from her sleep.

"It'll be okay. I can do this." He looked at her face and saw the tears streaming down from her eyes. Her voice was so weak. "Our honeymoon was worth it. Pay this price for you a thousand times over." She gasped and clenched his hand. He slid her on to his lap and kissed her forehead.

"You're so brave, Buffy. I wish I could do more."

"Just love me. It's all I'll ever need."

"It's all I'll ever do." He kissed her on the tip of her nose. "Time to head into Giles' place. Want me to carry you?"

"I want to walk. It's good to move." She slid off his lap and turned back, pressing her lips against his. "I love you."

"Get inside. Giles is bound to have the kettle on by now. I'll bring in our things."

He stepped out and helped her over the curb. "Have you got it from here?"

She shook her head, so he held her hand until they made it to the door.


	13. Of Mania and Dust

Giles felt completely out of his depth. He had always known what to do, but faced with her pain he felt defeated. He watched as Oz created a fur nest in the corner of his living room, and tucked her into it with soft murmurs and one tired sounding growl.

"She should sleep for a while." Oz flopped down on the couch across from him. "We talked about this, but I had no idea how bad it would be."

"There is no way to prepare for this. You're holding up quite well." Giles watched Oz blush and raise his hand as if to push the praise away.

"She needs, I provide and vice versa. Which brings me to the awkward part of this conversation." Oz looked around the room before locking eyes with Giles. "I need to ask you for her hand. I'll ask her mother, too, but you're the one that counts."

"I was under the impression things had progressed a bit past this point." Giles polished his glasses and looked over at Buffy.

"We are mates. We would be fine without the human formalities, but some part of Buffy wants them. The rings, the music, the dancing, the cake, and strangely enough a mortgage payment, she dreams about them. I want her to have them." Oz shrugged. "We'll never get back what we left behind. It was unique, but I think we can build a happy life here."

"I don't think Buffy is mine to give away, but I give you my permission for whatever it is worth and a promise to help when her mother tries to kill you." Giles chuckled. "The woman has a vicious temper and she makes Buffy seem biddable."

Oz groaned and rolled his head and neck back and forth, releasing some of the tension. "Did you know she was in this much pain all the time?"

"No, I never knew her as a potential. I knew that the precsence of evil caused physiological reactions in the slayer, but I had no idea it was this bad." Giles rubbed his hands against the fabric of his trousers. "I don't know how she stands it."

"The first few days we were there, she was giddy. I mean she took charge of our safety and set up camp, but she would just sit and grin while I read to her at night. I wonder how long it will take her to readjust." Oz rubbed his hand across his face.

"Get some sleep, Oz. Something tells me we are going to need it." Giles stood and walked to the stairs.

"So, long as it isn't the pricking of your thumbs. I don't think we could handle anymore tonight." Oz got up from the couch and walked over to the furs in the corner. He stood there, watching her for a long while before he finally crawled into the pile and curled himself around her.

Giles came downstairs to fix breakfast and stopped and stared at the couple milling about in his living space. Buffy was rolling up their furs and putting them back in their basket. Her movements were jerky, but she seemed better. Oz sat on the couch reading aloud in French. Buffy smiled and popped the lid on the basket.

"He thinks I'll get the hang of it if I keep hearing it." Buffy smiled and shrugged. "We went out for jellies and muffins, earlier. Would you care for some tea?"

Nodding his head, he watched as she all but ran for the kitchen. He turned toward Oz. "She seems improved."

"You mean manic." Oz grinned. "She's dealing. The pain is still there, but I think we passed the crisis point."

"Sorry about raiding your personal stash, but I thought Buffy would enjoy the Rousseau."

"You may read any of my books, Oz, Buffy's enjoyment or comprehension aside." He smiled as he heard her guffaw.

"Mom'll be here soon. Is it really time for bash Buffy?" She sashayed in with the tea tray and smiled sweetly at both men as she put it down on the coffee table. She sat next to Oz and brought his hand up to her mouth for a kiss. "I need to train. I'd like to do that with both of you. I need to talk with Faith. The rest of the scoobs need to be brought up to speed, and I seriously need some hair dye."

She squeezed Oz's hand and looked directly into her watcher's eyes. "Angel's gonna be a problem, maybe. We agreed to just be friends, but he won't be prepared for this. I think we need him on our side, but recent developments could change that." She glanced at Oz and smiled. "We need to research, and figure out what's happening because I think it's bad, very bad."

Giles started to shake. The fear poured through him. "You are sure we need him?"

"I'm sure, Giles. I'm sure and he's dust if you think that's best. I know what he did to you, to everyone. I won't let that happen again because of this."

"I want to meet him at the library. I want to see how he deals with our recent changes. He has been a strange ally in the past. Perhaps, He could rise to the occasion once more." Giles smiled at her. "I don't imagine perfect happiness will be brought about by this development, so dusting him may not be required."

"We need to tell the scoobies to keep it neutral ground only. Are you sure? I mean my gut instinct is still to hold off dusting him, but I need to know the two of you will be safe."

Giles leaned across the space between them and grabbed her chin. "I would stake him myself for what he did to you alone, but if he helps keep you alive he can remain undead."

The door burst open and Willow sailed into the flat, bouncing with Xander following along in her wake. Oz groaned and Buffy squeezed his hand.

"I can't dust her, baby." She whispered before turning a shaky smile toward the new arrivals.


	14. Everything She Wants

Joyce Summers gathered the two book bags, and the brown paper sack into her arms and walked toward Giles' door. She pushed aside her personal distaste and knocked. She could hear a muffled exchange and then the door was pulled open before her.

Buffy stood, quietly waiting for her mother to pass through the door. She watched the look of irritation pass over her mother's face. "It's broad daylight, Buffy. I think you could be polite."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It's a habit, a keep the people I love safe habit." Buffy hugged her quickly and trotted down the very short hall. "Is the soup done yet?"

"Modern technology." Joyce heard the quiet reply from the kitchen. "Five minutes."

"Buffy, what's going on here?" She demanded as she watched her daughter fidget.

"Harder to explain. Mom, look at me. Notice anything?" Buffy turned around slowly, pausing to glance at her arm and to flick her thick bi colored braid over her shoulder.

"I see my daughter acting strangely, which, unfortunately, happens all to frequently." Joyce dumped her bags on the counter and followed Buffy to the couch.

Oz smiled as he carried the tray laden with three bowls of soup and a giant plate of grilled cheese sandwiches to the table.

"Sunnydale syndrome, or parental blindness?" He raised an eyebrow and half smiled at Buffy.

"Both." Buffy sighed. "Sit down, Mom. We'll try to explain it." Buffy gestured to a spot on the couch and Joyce sat.

"Buffy, won't you just tell me what's going on?"

Oz sat on the floor and Buffy folded herself down next to him. He pushed a bowl toward Joyce and smiled when she automatically picked it up and started eating.

"It started with the demon migration, we were all out searching for them and Oz and I wound up fighting a large group. We were handling it. It wasn't pretty, but Willow panicked and used magic to open rifts and remove the demons to where they were headed. I'm not really sure what went wrong with her spell or if it was just some extra hell mouthy fun, but Oz and I shifted dimensions as well." Buffy grabbed a sandwich and looked nervously at Oz.

"We were there for nearly a year." Oz smiled at Joyce. "That's why Buffy looks thinner and more muscular, maybe an inch taller. It explains her hair and the marking."

"I had dinner with you last night. You were not gone a year."

"Mom, time moves differently in different dimensions. Giles can explain it to you later. We were there for 361 days. We weren't here for three hours. I know it sounds crazy, but hey, my life."

"Was it a nice dimension?" Joyce asked and looked about nervously.

"We liked it there. I mean once we settled in." Buffy and Oz shared a bittersweet smile.

"Did you get jobs? Was it like when you went to L.A.?"

"It wasn't like that. We were the only human like things there. We lived in a cave and we hunted and gathered." Buffy smiled and looked at with and grabbed his hand.

"So, this isn't really a magic thing. This is a teenage thing. You're with your best friend's ex and all hell is going to break loose in your little group when they figure it out."

"Well, close." Buffy nodded at her mother and smiled. "Just one thing, a little wrinkle really, a bit more magic. Oz and I are together, together. That's what this means." Buffy trailed her finger along her mark. "Oz has one, too."

"Buffy, try speaking English, not Buffy babble." Joyce glared at her daughter.

"I guess this is the point where I need to talk to your mom. Why don't you go do your hair?" Oz touched her cheek.

"Are you sure?" Buffy darted looks between the two and grabbed the bag of hair dye. "No bloodshed, okay?"

"I promise to minimize the carnage." He shoved another sandwich in her hands. "Eat, we can use the calories for patrol tonight."

She took a giant bite and scampered off. He watched her, fighting the desire to chase after her.

"Buffy is amazing. I'll never be able to explain the miracle she is to me." Oz turned and looked at Joyce, a wry smile flitted across his face. "She would have babbled for hours without getting anything coherent out."

Joyce nodded. "She tends to babble. Sometimes I feel like there should be a Buffy to English dictionary in my purse."

"It might help." He watched her look around the room. "Has she ever told you about me?"

"You are the very cool bassist for a band, a werewolf, and you used to date Willow."

"Succinct. It's the middle one that comes into play."

"Werewolf." Joyce shook her head for a moment. "It seems I'm about to have one of those conversations again."

Oz watched as Joyce rubbed her forehead. "Feels like you fell down a rabbit hole, I would imagine."

"Ever since Buffy told me the truth I find myself desperate to wake up, but then I realize that this crazy world is real and I have to deal with it for her sake." Joyce looked at Oz and tried to smile. "So, this new issue is caused by your being a werewolf?"

"That's one way to look at it."

"The other way would be what?" Joyce's voice took on a hard edge. "My daughter has managed to get herself involved with another not quite normal man."

"Basically. Yes, Buffy's my mate. The marks won't fade. They can't be removed. I'm not fully human, neither is Buffy. We are both human enough. We consider ourselves married. I'm going to marry her in the human way, too. She deserves that, wants the rings and the ceremony. I'm talking to you about this because I don't want her to think about life spans and tragedy. The deal is done. We're as good as, might as well, sooner the better."

"Why the hurry? The two of you aren't even out of high school. You could change your minds."

"Not an option, and we both knew it before we did anything. We fought against it, but in the end we made our choice. We are married in everyway but the legal one. I want to give her the whole package because she's Buffy. It has nothing to do with the consequences of our physical relationship." Oz blushed and looked down. "I want it quickly because I know she won't be around forever. I want our time for as long as we have it."

"I don't see why you can't just date. What if this mating thing wears off in this dimension? You are both too young."

"I want to do this right. I want you to get the mother of the bride stuff and the planning stuff with her, but I'll leave the choice to Buffy. If she wants to wait until you're ready for this, I'll wait."

"Thank you for being so reasonable."

"I'm not, I'm betting on Buffy." He smiled and took a large bite of his sandwich.

"She isn't eighteen."

"She is."

"Not legally, not really."

"She will be soon. I can still remember her birthday. Strange, we gained a whole year." He looked sadly toward the bathroom hoping that they hadn't lost one in payment.

Joyce felt her heart tear as she watched the young man, stoically deal with her daughter's destiny. "Aren't things going to be hard enough without pushing a wedding on your friends?"

Oz turned and tilted his head, considering. "I don't know. I don't care. I don't want to marry her for them."

Joyce met his eyes and nodded. His stillness unnerved her. He didn't defer to her or act like most teenagers. It was decidedly unsettling. Of course, he was now a fixture in her daughter's life.


	15. Home Again, Home Again

Buffy emerged from the bathroom fully blonde once more, her full on California girl mojo working. She twirled about trying to look happy for her family. The headache was pressing in on her, but she could deal with that for them. She knew Oz was aware of her pain, but she was managing to hold most of it away from him.

"You look wonderful, Buffy. But anyone who pays attention is going to notice the changes." Her mother said as she tilted her head looking at her daughter's odd tattoo.

"It's Sunnydale, Mom. No worries. I'm close enough not to startle anyone." She shrugged and sat down in Oz's lap. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight to his body, taking in her scent.

"Your young man wants to marry you. Did you know?" Joyce watched Buffy stroke his arm with her fingers.

"Yeah, Mom, I was going to tell you about our plans, but he wanted to talk to you first. It's old fashioned, but it suits him. So serious." She grinned at him. "I'm on board. We are mated. It's way more than a marriage, but I'd like the human stuff, too. I thought you'd like it, too."

"I think the two of you are a little young for this." Joyce ground out.

"I get that, Mom. We are young, but I'm probably not going to get to do old. Slayers don't live that long. I've died once already. Kendra's gone. The slayer before me was seventeen when she kicked the bucket and there hasn't been a slayer that made it to twenty-one in over sixty years. What am I waiting for?"

Joyce looked away from her daughter's stormy gaze and wiped at her eyes. "Do you want your Dad to come?"

"If he wants to come," Buffy shrugged. "But Giles is going to give me away. He's been there for me, put himself on the line for me. Dad doesn't even send my support payments on time."

"How do you know that?" Joyce turned back toward them with a shocked expression.

"I pay attention, Mom. The months he forgets you let me get away with so much more crap. It isn't really a mystery."

"I'm sorry. He does love you, but he's an out of sight out of mind type of person." Joyce grimaced and looked at the floor.

"After Hemery, he wanted me out of sight. It's okay. I've got you. So, I didn't win the paternal lotto. I can deal."

"What about your family, Oz? How are they going to feel about this?" Joyce watched him carefully.

Oz shrugged. "My parents aren't really a factor. I'm eighteen in this dimension. So, I don't need their permission."

"Well, I'd like to meet your family." Joyce tried to smile. They might want some input into this wedding of yours.

"I doubt it, but I'll call them and see if they'll come home to meet you and Buffy. They're touring with an historical reenactment group, but they might come back." He shrugged. "My uncle and aunt would probably be more into the traditional stuff than my parents. We could do a dinner at my place and let everyone get to know each other."

"I'd rather do it at our place. I think the mother of the bride gets to cook the getting to know your family meal." Joyce smiled. "Would next Friday be too soon?"

Oz shook his head. "My parents should be able to show if they're coming, and my uncle and aunt live here in Sunnydale with my little cousin. I live in the apartment over their garage. It's not a bad place."

Joyce nodded her head slowly. "You will both be at my house tonight by dinner time. I'll need help with the menu and we have to start planning. I also imagine there are things you need to do."

Buffy and Oz nodded their heads in unison. Joyce watched them shift about looking nervously at anything but her.

"We have to get our stuff over to Oz's place." Buffy finally muttered.

"Buffy, you need to stay with me tonight. If you need Oz at the house, I'll deal. You can sleep in the same room fully clothed with the door open."

"Mom, it's a full moon. Oz may need the cage. He didn't have any problems controlling it in the other dimension, but he changed fully there. He's never managed that here. I may be keeping him company at the library. Your welcome to come there and bunk with me." Buffy waited for her mother to blow up, but she just nodded her head.

"Well, if he needs the cage, let me know and I'll bring dinner and eat it with you there. I'd like to hear about your life in the other dimension."

Buffy rushed to her mom and hugged her as tightly as she dared. It was so nice to be able to hug her and be hugged back. Her mom's unique scent wafted to her and she nestled against her neck and felt her mom's chin on the top of her head. "I missed you, Mom. You have no idea how much I missed you."

"I didn't even know what happened to you until Mr. Giles called after you returned. All he said was there was a bit of trouble and you wouldn't make it home. I don't like phone calls like that." Joyce pushed Buffy back and looked her directly in the eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want? Marriage is a big step."

Buffy stepped back into Oz's arms and smiled at her mother as he hugged her from behind. "We are sure."

"Well, I'd better get your father up to speed. Can we at least plan the ceremony for after graduation?" Joyce watched as they stilled and she had the strange thought that they were communicating without her. "Maybe we could wait until your friends come around. I'm sure Willow will understand once she gets used to the idea."

"Can we talk about dates later? We need to talk to my family. Call my parents. Those might be factors in the planning." Oz smiled at her and Joyce felt herself warming up to her daughter's man.


	16. Obsession and Other Party Games

Buffy rolled her neck as she walked into the library. Oz's family had accepted her with no fuss and no muss. The whole afternoon had been pleasant. She still felt the evil of their world pressing on her, but it was easier to handle the burden. She needed to patrol and soon, but they had to go and chat with the assorted scoobs again. She grabbed Oz's hand and felt reassured by the warmth of his skin.

"How long do you think you can hold it off?"

"As long as you need. After being there, this pull feels like nothing. Are you sure you want to go in the cage with me?" Oz touched her cheek tenderly.

"Yeah. We've got this. Giles will just want a demonstration." She shrugged and pulled him closer bumping their shoulders playfully.

Oz dipped his head and dropped a swift kiss to her lips before she pushed through the library doors and stopped dead in her tracks. Her mother had spread a huge tablecloth over their research table. There was enough food to feed at least four of Xander and there was a cooler resting nearby. Oz whistled one long soft note and watched as Joyce came toward them with a huge smile on her face.

"I thought a celebration was in order. We missed a year of your lives and though it doesn't seem like that to us, you deserve a homecoming party." Joyce reached out and pulled a nonresponsive Buffy into her arms. Oz tried to free his fingers from her hand, but she squeezed them tightly forcing him to stand awkwardly to the side.

"Mom, we haven't even told everyone what happened yet. A party might be a bit awkward." Buffy stepped back from her mom and let go of Oz's hand.

"Well, food helps awkward situations. So, think of this as a distraction for the group. It might help." Joyce looked at Buffy hopefully.

"I guess you're right. Did Giles say this was okay?" Buffy looked at the mountain of food and wondered briefly that Xander hadn't already planted himself at the table.

"He did, but he retreated into his office pretty quickly." Joyce tilted her head toward the closed door. "I think I make him nervous."

Oz grabbed his guitar from the cage and sat on the steps to work on the song he was currently writing when he saw Buffy stiffen. He sniffed the air and barely managed to contain a low growl. He turned to see Angel walking into the room from the back.

Buffy came to him and rested her hand on his shoulder as the vampire came to a halt a few feet from them. Angel looked at her possessive gesture and frowned. He took a deep breath taking in the scents along with the unneeded air.

"Care to bring me up to date?" His voice had gone soft and low. Buffy shivered as he moved a bit closer. "My senses must be off, because you look like Buffy, but you aren't my Buffy. I mean this Buffy."

"Yes, I am. I'm just older than I was yesterday morning. Wiser, too." Her chin jutted out a bit. "We are friends and I love you. I'll always have a place in my heart for you, but I've found where I'm meant to be." She rubbed Oz's shoulder and he brought his hand up to hers.

Angel stood frozen before them. Buffy stepped forward and waved a hand in front of his eyes only to have her hand grabbed and twisted as he brought her wrist to his nose. She watched as his nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. The growl that started low in his body raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

"I don't know what you are, or who, but you are not my Buffy." He flung her arm from him a lashed out at her with a vicious kick. She managed to jump over his leg, but landed awkwardly and had to retreat to avoid his fists.

"I don't want this, Angel." She growled as she evaded another punch. "I don't want to have to hurt you more than I have."

Oz grabbed the vampire's foot as he lunged toward Buffy and swung him hard against the bookcase. Books fell and dust blossomed from the top of the case.

"You don't touch her." Oz dropped and waited for Angel to come at him.

"Both of you are going to knock this off. I'm not in any danger. I'm sorry I didn't come to see you and tell you myself. It's been a busy day." Buffy looked at Angel and smiled with half her mouth, her hand once again resting on Oz.

Angel rubbed his eyes, pulled his legs toward him as he sat up, and leaned back against the bookshelf. He looked up at the pair for a moment. His brown eyes flashed golden and he turned his head away.

"I'm sorry, Angel. I know this hurts, but I'm with Oz now. I have been for a while. We had already decided to be friends. I wasn't unfaithful to you, and it didn't happen overnight though it seems that way to you."

Joyce watched from the office door, eyes wide. Giles stood in front of her with a sword held comfortably in his relaxed grip.

"I can't do this, Buffy. You can't expect me to stay and watch you do this with him." Angel pushed his way up the bookcase and stood glowering. His eyes fixed on Giles. "You approve of this?"

"Buffy's love life is her own. I have to admit, I see her taste improving." Giles voice was smooth and measured.

"So, this is your revenge, to mate her with a dog. Stealing my love because I took yours." Angel snarled and Giles raised his sword and let it shine in the light between them for a moment.

"You'll do well to remember exactly how little respect I have for you. My good will extends only as far as Buffy asks it." Giles rolled his head on his neck and shifted his shoulders.

Buffy grabbed Angel by the duster and tossed him on his back with a flick of her wrist. "Are you threatening my family? Playing in Angelus' pool now? Toss me the sword, Giles."

She never looked away from the prone body of her ex as she caught the sword. She spun the blade and smiled as it moved as if a part of her. Angel started to crawl backwards.

"This has been a shock. I'm willing to give you another chance. Apologize." Buffy snarled at him.

Angel flipped to his feet and rushed at her. She let the blade slide in to his stomach. "You've killed me once, sent me to hell, send me back."

"I thought you wanted redemption." Buffy cocked her head and pulled the blade from his body.

"Threatening mine does you no good. One more threat and I'll end you. Are we clear?" Angel nodded. "Get gone."

Oz rubbed her back as she wiped the blade on her jeans. "That could have gone better."

Buffy shook her head. "He's not through, Oz. How are we going to keep them all safe?"

"We will figure it out." Oz let his hands drift to her hips.

Buffy leaned back against him pressing her back into his chest. "He'll be brooding for a few days."

"He will come around. He does love you." Giles said as he and Joyce approached the couple quietly.

"No, he loves the idea of possessing me. I'm a prize, not a real woman. Look at his history. I'm just Angel's version of Drusilla. Once he decides to act he's going to come hard. We need to be ready."


	17. Flying Monkeys

Willow smiled and straightened her sweater. It was his favorite, fuzzy and soft. She bit her lower lip and thought about changing her clothes for the third time. She stood back and twisted and turned in front of the mirror. Buffy wasn't around to help her. It was always Buffy who helped her get her clothes just right. Willow shrugged and tried to fix her hair. It looked silly in the pigtails. She pulled them out and shook her head quickly before finger combing her hair back into place. It was hopeless. She wanted to be perfect for him, but she wasn't sure what to do.

"I should call Buffy." Willow bounced across her room and grabbed her phone. She dialed the number and listened to the rings stretching the cord as she tried to get to her vanity and fix her makeup. The answering machine picked up.

"She probably headed over to Angel's just as soon as Giles would let her." She mumbled as she floated the mascara tube to her hand and floated the phone back to its cradle. "I should have insisted on spending some quality girl time with her today. She could have told me all about where she and Oz were, helped me figure out what to say to get him back. I wonder what it was like, the other dimension."

"Well, if you want to find out we need to be heading over to the library." Xander leaned against the doorjamb and smiled. "You're Mom let me up."

"Did she even notice it was you?"

"I don't think she looked up from her book." He grinned and looked at the disarray around Willow's room.

"I think you might need to relax a bit, Will. It's a changing moon tonight. Oz isn't going to be noticing your outfit."

"I forgot. I'm a bad girlfriend. How could I forget?" She turned wringing her hands. "He's been through so much and I can't keep a little thing like the lunar schedule straight in my brain."

"It's a busy brain. He won't be mad you forgot about the moon, but he might get upset if you keep insisting he's your boyfriend. He broke up with you."

"I know that, Xander." Willow grabbed her bag. "I also know that he'll give me a second chance. I am going to be the best girlfriend ever."

"Will, I'm not getting a reunited and it feels so good vibe from him." Xander rubbed her shoulder as they headed toward the door.

"No, you're just seeing everything through Cordelia tinted glasses. Has she taken any of your phone calls yet?"

"She's not going to take my calls, Will. She made a decision. I screwed up. She wound up in the hospital. I didn't just call a Prada bag a Gucci. I hurt her. She has a right to be mad. Some things just can't be fixed." Xander looked down at his sneakers and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. "I knew Cordelia wasn't long on understanding and forgiveness, and it isn't like I spilled something on her favorite sweater. I cheated on her with you. There's not going to be another ride on that merry go round for me."

"Oz is more understanding. He gets that it was a moment of weakness. He just needed a couple of days apart. We will be fine now." Willow smiled and walked out the front door.

Xander closed the door behind him, but watched his best friend with worried eyes. "You're so worried about getting Oz back, you aren't seeing the big picture. Will, you need to use that super big brain of yours and see that things are different. You can't make the world the way you want it to be."

"I know that, Xan, but I love him. I just want to make it up to him and get back to the way things should be." Willow looked over her shoulder. "Hurry up, I don't want to be any later."

"No. I need to say this. Things weren't as good as you're pretending."

Willow started shaking her head. "You're my best friend, Xander. Can't you just be supportive?"

"Egypt nice this time of year? It wasn't a moment of weakness. It was weeks of weakness. We just got caught in one moment of it. He knows that. On some level, he knows that." He touched her shoulder and ran his fingers along the soft sweater down to her elbow. "Don't lie to yourself."

Willow bit her lower lip and looked up at him with big glassy eyes. "I did this bad thing. I know it. It's all I can think about. I hurt him so badly. I just want to make it right. I want him to know I love him and to forgive me. I want everything to be the way it should be."

"I think you need to listen to him. He's been through a lot. Maybe we need to be there for both of them. Buffy needs us, too. You've barely noticed her."

"She's strong and she'll be okay." Willow glared up at him.

"She didn't look so fine last night. She looked destroyed and he didn't look much better. I think coming back here was hard for them."

"You think coming home was hard for them?" Willow shook her head.

"I'm not sure this place feels like home to either of them anymore." Xander kicked a small chunk of concrete further down the sidewalk. "Giles said it was a good place, where they were. What if it was a better place than this?"

"Come on, Xander. Everyone knows there's no place like home. Let's get going. We can find out all about what happened to them, and I can start proving to Oz that I'm sorry."

Xander watched her get into the car and groaned as he walked around to the driver's side. "He might be the great and powerful Oz, but Sunnydale sure isn't Kansas. Although, occasionally, flying monkeys."


	18. Dinner Party

Oz stroked his fingers along Buffy's face as she sat next to him in the library's cage. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He pulled her tight against his chest and she relaxed in his arms.

"Do libraries usually have cages? I never really thought about it, but it's a bit odd, right?" Buffy asked as she nuzzled into his chest.

"Dunno. Never thought about it. Most town's this size don't have eight occult bookshops and at lest three magic shops. I noticed that on tour with the Dingoes." He rested his chin on her head. "How long d you think Giles is going to make us sit inhere before he accepts that I've gained control of my wolf?"

"He's just being cautious. He let me come in here without too much hand wringing. Give him time. We've dumped a lot on him."

"I want to be out when Willow and Xander get here." He shifted his body so she sprawled across his chest. "I don't want to hurt her, but she isn't going to take this well."

"At least you were already broken up. I'm her best friend, and she's going to be so mad. I hope she forgives me someday." She rubbed her cheek against his tee shirt.

"There's nothing to forgive, Buffy." He kissed the top of her head lightly. "You did nothing wrong."

"We have this conversation a lot. Don't we?"

"Yep. You feel guilty. I think it's a slayer thing." He smiled as she pushed up and glared at him through her tousled hair.

"What are you talking about?" She snarled in a low growling tone.

"You are the one. Kendra and Faith aside. You are the one that fights for the world. You fight to keep the ball spinning and balanced. You keep the evil from running rampant. One mistake, one tiny human error and everything spins out of control. Angelus taught you to feel it even more keenly. So, you feel guilty even when it's just normal girl stuff, too. You don't know how to turn it off."

"You know if Giles finds out you can string so many words together at a time, he's gonna expect more from you when we research." She grinned down at him before dropping a kiss on the end of his nose.

"Well, I don't mind talking to you." He quirked up the corner of his lips and tugged her back down for another quick kiss. Their lips met and she let her weight rest on him for a moment, no more than half a heart beat. The happy giggle that she half swallowed as they broke apart warmed him. "You're feeling better."

"Yep. Thanks to you." She smiled at him and trailed her fingers down his shirt. "Ready to put on the show for Giles and Mom? Or should we wait for the others?"

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "I hate being part of this floor show."

"When you play with the Dingoes do you hate it?" Buffy watched him closely and saw him shrug one shoulder. "You like being part of something. You like creating something beautiful and fun. This may not be beautiful, but it's helping to create a better life. You move me the way you move the music."

"I hope I do a bit more." He smirked at her as he pulled the hem of his shirt up.

"A bit." She smiled, reached out, grabbed his waistband and pulled him to her. She smiled as she slid her hands up until she met his bunched up shirt.

He grinned and licked her cheek. "Let me change. I want to get this done. Go hang with your Mom and Giles. I'll be there in a minute."

Buffy snarled playfully and slid her fingers down his torso before she grinned and sprang away from him. "Just remember you sent me away and don't grouse."

Buffy laughed and bounded out of the cage as he dropped his clothing and let the call of the moon take him.

"Are you coming, Oz?" He pricked his ears toward her voice and walked out of the cage on his four paws.

Buffy grinned down at him and fell to her knees with her arms out in welcome. He rushed forward and shoved his furred head under her chin. She sank her fingers into his thick coat. "Hey, gentle."

"He's fully transformed." Giles rushed forward in awe. "He's not a hybrid, but a real wolf. How?"

"It's easier now that he's mated, and the moon was different there." She leaned against his canine form and smiled.

The doors swung open and Faith strode in. "So, doin' it doggie style now, B. Gotta say didn't see that much twist in your drawers."

The low growl from Oz brought a smile to Buffy's lips. "He can understand you. How are things?"

"Activity seems low, only two newbies. It was a waste of a patrol. Boring." She pushed up and sat on the counter. "What's with the yummy spread?"

"We're having a show and tell dinner." Buffy smiled up at Faith and hugged Oz around the neck. "Mom's idea."

"Hard to beat dinner and a show." Faith smiled and took a deep breath. "Thanks for the grub, Mrs. Summers."

Joyce smiled as she watched her daughter stroke the large wolf curled up next to her on the floor. She looked up at Giles and tried to smile.

"This is really most amazing. I didn't even know full transformation was possible. I can't wait to talk with him about this tomorrow."

"You'll get to talk with him about it tonight, Giles. He can change back anytime. We just decided to wait until Xander and Willow show up." Buffy buried her nose into the fur around his neck and took a deep breath.

Faith laughed as the doors burst open. "Well, the entertainment has arrived."

Willow and Xander took in their assorted friends and family with large eyes.

"Wow, Scooby meetings come with table cloths now?" Xander smiled and laughed as he walked toward the food. Joyce smacked his hand as he tried to snag a roll.

"Manners, too, Xan. Sorry." Buffy grinned up at him from her place next to Oz.

"Well, I can be with the new fussy stuff if we still have pizza once in a while." He managed to sneak a roll and grinned unrepentantly as he scampered over to Faith and broke the roll in half.

"Do you think it'll be show then dinner, dinner then show, or everything all smooshed into one?" Faith smiled and gestured toward the group.

"Tryin' not to think about it too much. Willow isn't exactly with the open eyes and the seeing right now." He mumbled as they watched her walk toward Buffy and Oz.

"What happened to Oz? How can he do that?" Willow asked as she stared at the real, fully realized wolf lying next to Buffy.

"We'll need to do some research on that, but we have a couple of working theories. Can we get into them later? Let Oz have a chance to change back, so he can participate in the conversation." Oz rested his head on Buffy's thigh for a moment and she stroked his ears.

"Why isn't he trying to bite us or run wild?" Willow asked as she watched them.

"He's capable of rational thought in all of his forms now. Give him a second and he'll answer all of your questions."

Oz padded across the room toward where he had stashed his clothing earlier. He turned his head to Buffy and they locked eyes for a moment before he disappeared into the cage.

"So, he mastered the change while you guys were away. Wow." Willow watched the cage.

"Yeah, it was a weird dimension. The moon cycle was more powerful and lasted longer. Things were pretty simple there though. We didn't have to worry about him attacking unsuspecting humans, so he experimented. Now he can change anytime. It's his choice." Buffy smiled at Oz as he walked out of the cage with his half smile playing at his lips.

"Buffy was the brave one. The first change freaked me out. I could feel it coming and I was terrified I would hurt her, but she just told me she'd keep me safe, even if it meant knocking me out." He shrugged and grinned as all their friends looked at him oddly. "Okay, you try living with her for a year and not talking. Not gonna happen."

"Well, that aside I would like to ask you about the differences in your control of the change. I've never had much interaction with werewolves. Slayers rarely deal with them."

"Giles, let him be. We have lots of time for you to study the changes in his abilities, but we don't have all night. Let's eat and chat." Buffy pulled out a chair and plopped in it. Oz smiled and flipped the chair next to her around and leaned his chin on the chair back as he looked at the table.

"Yeah, food time." Xander raced to the table.

Faith pulled up the other chair next to Buffy. "I know this thing we do is a one gal gig, but I'd like it better if you'd hang around." The two slayers looked at each other and grinned.

Buffy slung an arm around Faith and half hugged the girl. "I'm not planning to leave here anytime soon. We're gonna break all the age records for our kind, okay?"

Faith shrugged off Buffy's arm, but smiled and nodded her head. "Sounds good to me, sounds real good."

Joyce started handing out sodas and Giles smiled as she waved her hands at the rest of the group to sit. He pulled out a chair for her. "We can fend for ourselves. You really should just enjoy this meal you worked so hard to arrange." He looked at Joyce and then glanced quickly away as she sat.

Willow looked at the table, surrounded by her happy friends, and her chin shot out. "Aren't you going to tell us about what happened to the two of you? Isn't that why we're here?"

"Yes, Willow. Can we just sit and eat at the same time. I'm starving. Slayer metabolism, you know." Willow flounced to the only chair left and sat directly across from Buffy. "It's like you're putting it off."

Buffy glanced down and squeezed her eyes shut. "Oz and I mated in the other dimension, Willow. He was going to tell you, but I can't play at this. It isn't right. I love you and you are the best friend I've ever had. I hope you can forgive me, us."

Oz closed his eyes and dropped his hand down to cover Buffy's. "She's got nothing to forgive. We didn't do anything wrong."

Willow pushed back from the table and slammed her open palm down on the table. "You mated with my boyfriend? What does that mean?"

"Buffy and I decided to be together Willow." Oz looked up at his former girlfriend.

"You're doing this to teach me a lesson because of the Xander thing. I already said I was sorry. I'll do anything to make it up to you. I know I can prove it to you." Willow walked around the table and grabbed at Oz. He flinched away from her touch.

"I belong to Buffy now. She's my future. I'm not mad about the Xander thing. It was over a year ago for me and it hurt, but we weren't meant to be." Oz scooted further back from her as he spoke.

"No, you are my boyfriend." Willow stamped her foot and Oz sprang up from his seat.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't when you sent us there and I won't be ever again. I belong to Buffy." Oz shook his head as books started to fall from the shelves. "Get a hold of it, Willow. You can't use your magic like this. It won't change anything. I love her. She's the one for me." Willow smacked his face and stormed out.

"All smooshed into one." Faith shrugged and snagged another dinner roll.

Buffy sprang from her chair and started to run after her, but Xander caught her. "You're only going to make it worse, Buff. Let her cool down. I'll talk to her.'

"Well, both our exes like knocking the books down," she observed sadly as she sat next to Oz and leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed her temple and stroked her back trailing his fingers through her golden hair.


	19. Sacrifice Suffices

Willow screamed in rage as she paced in circles. This wasn't right. Buffy couldn't take Oz from her. She had saved them both and they betrayed her as thanks. She groaned and took off for her house. She heard Xander coming up behind her and slowed. He got it. He'd left the cheaters behind.

"Willow, you need to stop. Come back to the library and talk with Buffy and Oz. They don't want to hurt you. They didn't even know if they would be able to get back here." Xander rubbed the back of his neck.

"She is all any of you see. I should have known Oz would fall into her trap. You did. Giles doesn't even blame her for Miss. Calendar's death. She shouldn't have fucked her enemy. If she'd just done her job and staked him and his stupid family, I'd still have my world." Willow stamped her foot.

"Willow, get a grip. You cheated on Oz with me. Spike didn't make us do it. We were on our way without him. He just got us caught faster." Xander stepped back as her eyes flashed black for a moment.

"You didn't want me until someone else saw me. Buffy engineered this somehow. She tricked me into sending her away with Oz. I know it. She has to have all the men in love with her. It's not fair." Willow ended with a scream.

"Will, sweetie, calm down." Xander reached out and rubbed her shoulder.

"No, I won't calm down. I'm gonna go tell Angel. He'll understand." She spun away and ran toward Crawford Street. Xander stood for a moment watching her before taking off and following her.

He caught up to her and grabbed her arm pulling her to a stop. "Willow, please. This is a bad place. No Scooby that enters remains unscathed."

"Let go of my arm, Xander. I want to see Angel. He'll get it. He'll understand."

"Willow, we did this. You lost Oz and I lost Cordy. Angel lost Buffy a long time ago." Xander grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes. "You're hurting. I get it, but I'm telling you to give it time."

"You lost Cordy. She never really loved you, but Oz was coming back to me. I know he was."

"Maybe, but things didn't work out that way. They love each other. Don't you see that? She doesn't get to have a happily ever after. Something evil is going to take her out again. I hate that. I hate that she won't be with us forever. Let them have this."

"He wasn't hers. She can't have him. No, it isn't okay. So, fate stuck you with a bum deal have every boy in town. I don't think so." Willow wrenched her hands free from Xander's grasp and ran into the mansion.

Angel looked up as the two teens burst into his home. He drank down his last splash of brandy and growled at them. "Tonight of all nights I need some peace."

"You know about Buffy and Oz then." Willow stopped short at the flash of gold in his eyes.

"Yes, I know that the love of my existence is throwing herself away on a paltry little boy wolf."

"Don't talk about Oz like that. He isn't paltry." Willow glared at Angel. "It's your ex that's screwing this up."

Xander sat on the stairs and watched the exchange wondering why he had followed her in. He hated this place and its vampire resident.

"Not much either of us can do about it. Werewolves mate for life. She's his now." Angel dropped down to his couch and sat staring into the flames.

"I caused it, and I'm gonna fix it." Willow sat next to him. "I re-ensouled you. I'm pretty good with this magic stuff, but I need your help."

"What? You can't fix this. They made their choice."

"See even dead boy agrees with me." Xander said as he came into the room.

"Knock him out please." Willow said to Angel. "You know you want to and it really is for his own good."

Angel looked at her and hit Xander square in the jaw without ever breaking eye contact with her. Xander dropped to the ground in a boneless pile. She looked down at him and frowned.

"Can we please put him on the couch. We'll need him later, and I feel bad about hurting him." Willow looked up at Angel and he grabbed Xander and laid him on the couch.

"Better?"

"Much. Thank you. I've been researching offensive spells recently. I came across a memory eraser. I can use it to wash all of their minds, alter everything a bit and then they will be ours again."

"That doesn't undo the mating." Angel shook his head.

"No, but a masking spell will block the physical stuff and they won't remember the rest, and I can summon their things here and you can hide them. I'll tie the magic to those, so can you hide them here where they can't happen upon the stuff?"

"Why not burn it?"

"I have to bind their memories to something. They've got a year's worth of memories. It needs to be a pretty big thing. That mess of crap they brought with them is already tuned to them. Makes the magic easier."

Angel nodded. "We can put in the attic. Buffy never goes near it."

"There's more. I need you to cut me and get my blood. I'm afraid I won't get enough or I'll cut too deep."

"The spell calls for blood? Willow, that's pretty dark magic. I think we need to back up. This isn't a good place to go."

"It isn't black magic. It just needs the sigils drawn in virgin's blood. I'm a virgin, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Willow," Angel grabbed her hand. "Virgin's blood is a specific thing. It isn't the blood in your veins."

"Well, how do we get it then?"

"It's the blood that flows when a girl has sex for the first time."

"Can I get it with my fingers?"

"Probably not."

"Then you'll get it and draw the sigils while I direct you."

"Willow, to get this much blood. It'll be brutal. You'll hurt for days. This isn't how you should lose your virginity." Angel stood up and to the window.

"So, my virginity is worth more to you than Buffy. I don't care if you claw me raw. I want Oz back. You can hit me a bit and say you found Xander and like that in the parking lot. The blood smell will cover the magic taint. It'll work."

Angel closed his eyes and imagined watching Buffy spend her life with an animal. Her glory wasted on a monster. "Fine, but you shower here to wash off the scent. I won't hit you."


	20. Sow the Wind

Willow stared at the carefully drawn pattern on the floor. She looked over at the still unconscious Xander and felt a moment of agonizing guilt. This wasn't nice magic. At best, it was charcoal gray magic. She looked at Angel as he waited for her. He was handsome, but she wasn't looking forward to the next step.

"We don't have to do this, Willow." He pushed a hand through his hair and growled. "We can let it be. I won't force you."

"We can let it be." She repeated the phrase, testing it on her tongue. "We can let it be. Stand aside and watch as they cuddle together and wallow in their happiness. Forgetting all about the real love we shared."

She grabbed the hem of her sweater, pulled it from her body, and tossed it to the ground. The rest of her clothing followed in quick succession. She stood shaking and naked, but Angel wouldn't look at her. The guilt swamped her. She caught her fist against her open mouth. Buffy had slept with her boyfriend, and she was going to fuck Buffy's. She stretched out like a board on the ground.

"Get this over with. I want to take that shower." She snarled. "And don't get happy."

"I don't think there's even the most remote possibility of happiness here." He growled back at her as he stripped his clothing off and folded it neatly on the arm of the couch.

"Just get this over with. The longer we wait the harder this spell is going to get." She closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

She felt him kneel beside her. He ran a hand down her side. She shivered under his cold touch.

"You need to spread your legs, Willow. I won't do this if it requires force. It has to be your choice." There was an edge to his voice.

She spread her legs and felt him shift his bulky body between them. The hair on his legs rubbed against the skin of her inner thighs and suddenly the enormity of what she was doing came home to her. Her virginity would be a memory in a moment. She tensed her body and felt him press his cock up against her.

"Open your eyes, Willow. I need you to look at me. I need you to tell me this isn't rape." Angel's voice was soft, broken. She felt his body tremble. She opened her eyes and stared up into his chocolate ones and saw the pain inside him.

"We can't take the risk that fingers won't count in the magic. Get the blood. I know it's going to hurt. I want it to hurt." She kept her eyes locked with his until she felt him slide a bit into her. He paused and she closed her eyes. "Be brutal."

He took a deep breath and grabbed her hips. He looked down at her body. She was clenched against him. "Brutal it is." He murmured and thrust into her with every bit of his vampire strength.

He could smell the blood immediately, but it needed to flow. The sigils were complicated. They would need a steady stream. He continued to ram her, listening to her grunts and moans.

She shuddered with every thrust. She bit her lips until they bled. She wouldn't scream. He needed to get this done, so she could work the magic. The pain kept growing until it became constant. She opened her eyes and watched him grimace as tears slid down his face. He wrenched his blood-coated member from her and spurted something cold onto the soft flesh of her stomach. His body hung above hers defeated for a moment.

"I'm sorry." His voice broke as he drove his fingers into her and moved to mark the first sigil. She wanted to curl up in a ball, but he was going to need more. She stared at the ceiling and ignored his repeated invasions of her body. Numbness flooded through her awareness was only of him, his body, his movement. She felt him begin to falter and snapped her eyes back to him. There were only two sigils left undone.

"Finish it. You are doing this for Buffy. We are making a sacrifice to help the ones we love." She grabbed his head and forced him to look into her eyes. He nodded and rammed his fingers into her harder. She gasped and locked eyes with his now golden gaze.

"I'm doing this because I can't lose her. I'm not doing this for her. I'm helping you do this to her." He growled drew the last two symbols before licking his fingers clean under her watchful gaze. "Finish your damn spell."

Willow rose on shaky legs and stood above the first sigil. She felt him come to stand behind her. She started the incantation and watched as the white chalk lines began to glow orange. She moved through the sequence and stood in the center of the glowing lines. She watched as the dried blood flaked from her skin and spun into a gust of wind that suddenly spun around them. The whirlwind flared around the circle dropping the temperature in the room.

The smoky outline of two wolves appeared to stalk around the edge of the circle. Angel tensed behind her, but she watched as both forms writhed in agony. Their outlines became fainter with each circuit. She watched as the glowing lines around her flared and burned red with jumping flames. The last vestiges of the shadow wolves dissolved into the unnatural wind.

She felt a rush of heat through her body and blood splashed from between her legs, but she continued the chant until she felt the spell snap into place. The lines flared with a black flame and disappeared. All the body fluids disappeared. Only the sigils remained, burned into the floor. She rolled her shoulders. Every part of her body ached.

"We need to hurry. They'll sleep for about three hours while their memories change. I'm going to go shower." Willow heard the hard edge to her voice. He nodded and shuddered as she passed him.

Angel stared at the sigils burned into his floor and thought of the sense of evil that had poured off Willow as she walked by him. His gut twisted. He could remember every victim in detail; hear their screams and whimpers. He had done so much evil, but none of it had felt like this.

He rolled the rug back over the floor and went to scrub himself clean. His self-loathing burned within him. He was glad he cast no reflection for the first time in his existence. He leaned against the cold glass of the mirror and wept for his sins.


	21. The Calm

Xander woke up. His head throbbed and his jaw ached. He opened his eyes and saw Angel spreading a rug over a circle of branded symbols. He dropped his eyelids back down. Angel and weird magic looking symbols were so not of the good. He held his breath and tried to think. He needed to get to safety, so he pretended to be waking up for the first time. Maybe he could talk his way out of this mess.

"Oh, my aching head." Xander mumbled.

"Willow, Harris is waking up." Angel called out. "Hey, you okay, boy?"

Xander pushed up to a sitting position and watched as Willow came running into the room. She smiled at him and he felt relieved.

"Oh, Xander, I'm so glad you're okay. Angel found us dumped in his front yard. I came to pretty quickly, but you've been out of it for a while."

"I've tried calling the library, but no one is answering." Angel looked worriedly at Willow. "We need to get over there."

"Let's go see what's going on." Willow nodded and helped Xander up. He looked at her closely. She looked like his Willow, but something was wrong. It was like she'd been on a caffeine binge.

Xander watched Willow and Angel closely as they walked to the high school. Angel seemed more removed and broody than usual. The guy was such a downer, evil undead and depressing to be around. Still, it was within the normal realm of creepy.

Willow was the one acting really funny. She was skipping and laughing as they headed down the sidewalk. Even caffeine couldn't make her this crazy stupid.

"If the others haven't answered the phone, there could be trouble. Shouldn't we be worried, Will?" Xander asked her.

"I guess I'm just giddy from surviving that attack. I'll try to keep it down." She stopped bouncing around and tried to look serious.

Xander rolled his eyes. So, Willow was acting weird and dead boy was walking them to find their possibly dead or dismembered friends, she was still his Willow. He slung his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm just worried about everybody." Xander rubbed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure they're fine. Right, Angel?" Willow smiled at their companion.

"I'll feel better once we get there, but I'm sure its nothing Buffy can't handle." He looked away from the two of them, scanning the darkness.

"Yeah, Xander, Buffy can handle it. She's strong and Faith should be around. So, there's a surfeit of goodness just bubbling away on top of the hell mouth." Willow pulled away from him and bounced ahead. "Hurry up. I want to see everybody."

Angel glared at her for a moment. She relaxed again and walked sedately with them. Xander watched both of them and felt like the biggest idiot. They weren't acting all that strange. This was in his head. He was always accusing Angel of things, and it pissed Buffy off. He felt better when the high school came into view, and that was sickening. He was happy and it was school related. He shook his head.

"Angel, you should go in first, make sure everything is alright." Willow smiled and grabbed Xander's hand. "We will be safe here."

"No, I don't think splitting up is a good idea. I can see my Mom's car in the parking lot. Whatever got us, well, it got us near here. My mom's car is right there. I think we should stay together." Xander squeezed her hand.

Angel looked at the two of them and frowned. "The whelp has a point, unusual as that is."

"Fine we'll stick together." Willow cast Angel a look. Xander felt sorry for the vamp for a second.

"Okay, getting hit on the head sucks. I've got a lump, a headache, and I feel for the undead. Tell me there's a cure." Xander babbled as they walked into the darkened building.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Xander." Willow patted his hand and moved ahead of him.

The three of them burst into the library to find Buffy, breathless collapsed by the cage with a howling werewolf scratching at the gate. Faith was guarding the office with Joyce and Giles safely tucked inside.

"Wow, did you guys miss the fun." Buffy said as she pushed up wearily to her feet. "We all passed out for some weird reason and when we came around Oz was shifted and standing over me growling. I managed to get him back in the cage, but I'm worried about him."

"I think it must have been Ethan. This has all the ear marks of his brand of stupidity." Giles ground out as Faith stepped aside to let the adults out of the office.

Joyce collapsed into a chair, shaking. "I have such a headache. I don't know how you cope with all this stress."

"You adjust. This was really a nonevent, Mom. No first aid required." Buffy smiled at her mother and moved over to the counter to sit next to Faith. The two slayers grinned at each other for a moment.

"If this is Ethan, it won't be an isolated incident." Giles slammed his hand down on the table.

"It isn't." Xander said. "Apparently, someone dumped Willow and me in Angel's yard. Is it me or I?"

"Why the hell would Rayne dump them at the mansion?" Buffy tilted her head. "That doesn't seem to fit."

Giles nodded. "True. We may have a new player in town."

"We need to figure this out." Faith started pacing. "We can't just drop and take naps because some sorcerer grooves on making our lives a living hell. We'd be sitting ducks as is."

"This feels like a test run or a warning." Buffy said. "Other than that weirdness with Willow and Xander being dumped at the mansion and Oz being free. There wasn't much threat here."

"I can make charms to keep this from happening again." Willow said. "I mean if this new baddie wants to keep knocking us out, he won't be able to do it."

"That sounds good." Buffy nodded her head considering her responsibilities. She felt so sad, and it didn't make sense. They'd stopped the migration thingy and Willow had gotten them back from wherever with no trouble at all. "Could this have been some sort of side effect from Willow's spell with the rifts?"

"No, Xander and Willow were dumped at my place and he has a lump on his head." Angel said flatly.

"I wish I could remember what happened while we were dimensionally challenged." Buffy sighed. She looked at everyone and felt the sadness pulling at her. It was like drowning. She wanted to slide down to the ground and howl with Oz. She rubbed her hand along her arm and it felt cold to her touch. She felt tears gather for no reason at all. She loved them all and she couldn't keep them safe. Xander and Willow had been taken and she'd been under the influence of some spell. She'd been shifted out of this dimension for a bit. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, terrified by the possibility of failing to keep them safe.

"It will be okay, Buffy." Faith said and bumped their shoulders together. Buffy smiled at her and nodded. She wasn't the only Chosen One anymore. Faith was strong. She looked at Joyce and felt relief wash through her.

"Hey, Mom, can I talk to you in the office for a minute?" Joyce nodded.

"I feel so violated." Joyce said as she walked back to the office. "I went to sleep for no reason. These things happen to you all the time."

Buffy nodded and hugged her as they walked into the small office. "It's just the way things are in my world. I worry all the time about keeping you safe. Someday, I'm not coming home. I've died once. I need to find a way to protect all of you after I'm gone."

"Buffy, stop talking like that. You can still have a normal life." Joyce said.

"No, Mom. I won't. Slayers don't retire. We don't get old. I'm going to fight with everything I've got for as long as I can." Buffy grabbed her mother's hands. "Mom, you know Faith is living in a cheap motel. The council won't pay her and her watcher didn't leave her with much. I think we should give her the spare room."

"You want her to live with us?" Joyce looked at Buffy oddly trying to figure out the swift change of direction their conversation had taken. "I thought you felt strange about the other slayers."

"I used to feel really weird about it. They kind of reminded me about dying, made me think about it, but Faith needs a place to call home and I need you to be safe. I want us to ask her to move in with us."

Joyce looked at Buffy. She was agitated and rubbing her arm in an odd pattern. This horrible life was weighing on her daughter. She looked out the window at Faith. She was such a brash young woman. She needed love and stability, a home.

"Fine. Let's do it now."

Buffy hugged her mom and sighed with relief. She needed to protect her loved ones. There were rifts and sorcerers and all manner of supernatural crap coming at her. When she slipped up and couldn't make it home at least her mom would have Faith to protect her. She looked at Giles and the others and felt the panic leap within her anew. Safety was a long ways off. She shuddered as cold dread swept through her.


	22. Evil Does It

Angel stood and stared down at the sigils. Buffy hadn't shared any dreams about them, but that offered no comfort. At this point, he wanted to be caught. She had saved him somehow, had offered him her friendship and trust. He had known even as he walked through the snowy morning beside her that he was undeserving.

He stared at the circle of seared in evil and thought of her raw arm. She rubbed it constantly. He could smell the blood even when she bandaged it. He closed his eyes and pictured her emaciated frame. She was barely eating and the scent of bile and mouthwash was pretty constant.

She was going to discover that she was pregnant soon. He could hear the extra hearts beating inside her, twins. She would be terrified, and he couldn't help her. Her mate only knew her when the moon was full. Buffy had to stay at the library when Oz was shifted or he howled and damaged himself trying to escape. He had watched one night from the stacks as she sat by the cage and the partially transformed creature pressed itself against the other side. Willow had sat at the table glaring at them begrudging them even the tiniest sliver of comfort.

Willow was using magic easily now, manipulating the others. He had noticed that Buffy was almost never included now. She sat to the side while Willow held court in the library. It pained him to see her with her arms wrapped around herself staring at the others with a puzzled expression on her face. Only Faith even looked at her anymore.

He could feel Willow coming and covered the sigils as she breezed in. She looked so sweet and innocent, but the miasma of evil surrounding her tore at his unused viscera.

"What do you need, Willow?" He looked at her tiredly.

"Well, a better attitude for starters." She glared, arms akimbo.

"Sorry. So pleasant of you to drop by for a little chat." He snapped the words out.

"Not a chat. You need to get with the boyfriending. Buffy is hanging around Oz far too much, so get your ass in gear and make with the almost seduction." A cruel smile rode her face.

"Why? You don't want her to be happy. You've got the others buzzing around you like drones to your queen. Why are you punishing her?"

"She deserves it. She stole my man. He won't hug me or go anywhere just the two of us because his damn wolf remembers her on some level." She paced around the room.

"You knew the mating would stand. The spell couldn't wipe out something like that."

"Yes, Buffy and Oz might have been happy," she tossed her hands in the air and walked in a small circle. "But only for a little while. She'll come up against something that will take her down eventually, and he'd be alone, desolate. I'll keep him happy forever."

"Sure you will. You'll just magic him happy. What could be better?" Angel smiled letting a chuckle escape his bitter reverie.

"Better than mourning his dead mate." She flung at him. "There will be more than enough mourning for her right here."

"You're right. I'll mourn her. She's saved me, you, the whole damn world. She deserves it." He stood and glared down at Willow, but she didn't quake or even take a step back.

"Then give her something cold to hold onto in the time she has left, Angel. Give it to her or I'll have to deal with it myself. She can't have my Oz." Willow's eyes flashed black and he saw the darkness trace through her veins.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately, Willow?" He pointed to her blackened veins. "This is what you have to offer. I imagine you're as cold as I am inside."

"He'll never know the difference. Once he's fully mine I'll be able to stop with the magic and just be me." She smiled and looked down a ghastly imitation of the sweet Willow he'd known.

"Buffy is your best friend. What will be left of her when you're through?" He pulled her chin up and forced her to look at him. "Magic has consequences. You've been abusing it, making the others choose to do things your way, turning Giles away from his duty. What's going to happen to all of them when the magic fades? Do you think they'll be happy when they see the truth? It will out. It always does."

She wrenched her chin free from him and ran her fingers up his torso seductively. "I could just make you happy and then I wouldn't have to worry about any of them very much longer would I?"

"Make sure you're really ready before you play in the big leagues, baby." He sneered down at her. "If you unleash Angelus on the world, you'd better be ready to put him down."

"Maybe I just want to keep Buffy busy. Killing you a second time would break her into a million tiny little pieces, and I don't even have to make you happy. I can take your soul whenever I want to take it. I can put it back just as easily, so if you manage to kill her. I get to watch you lost in a full on guilt trip. Oh, the self flagellation." She laughed mockingly at him and used magic to toss him against the wall. "I could just pin you here and draw the curtains."

"Ah, kill me. Send me back to hell little witch. I've climbed out once. I can do it again." He could see the energy expenditure to hold him against the wall was immense. She'd fail soon. "When I make it back, I'll make you my pet project."

"Neither one of us really thinks much about Buffy's needs. Do we?" She dropped him from the wall and sat with a tissue pressed to her nose. "Poor little lonely slayer."


	23. Scraps

Oz pulled his van into the garage and rested his head against the steering wheel. Deep breathing wasn't cutting it. Meditation was no help at all. A low growl escaped him and he felt his body shake as the wolf fought for control. It was getting worse. He banged his head against the steering wheel. The pain cleared his mind. He grabbed his guitar and hurried up the stairs to his place. Relief flooded him as he bolted the door.

He needed to practice. Devon had been pissed. Missed cues and lapses of attention were his norm now, but only one incomplete song played through his head. Explaining that to Devon would be useless. He growled again. The pressure to shift was burning him, forcing everything but a few bars of music away. All he had were scraps of a song. He'd never been one for words. Music filled his head. It was his language, his thought patterns, notes and rhythms. Words had always seemed superfluous. It seemed they were all he had left. Words and a few bars of something that teased at his mind like a phantom.

He considered his couch as he put his bass in its stand. He could practice. Willow would call soon and the pouting and pursuit would resume. He didn't want to hurt her, but she was driving him crazy. There was no corner in his life untouched by her. He worried she would press too hard at the wrong time, his control was weakening earlier and earlier with every cycle, the wolf forcing the man back. The two parts of him had always differed on Willow. The man had liked her shyness, her quick mind, and her fierce nobility, but the wolf had only tolerated her. The wolf didn't even do that anymore. Her infidelity made her unacceptable and something about her presence felt wrong now. He shook his head.

Practice was out; it was six days to the full moon. Music so did not soothe the savage beast. It seemed to do the reverse, weakening his already tenuous control.

Oz rolled his shoulders and felt his skin ripple, the distinction between man and wolf thinning. He closed his eyes and felt a flash of something through his body, a memory of laughter. There was a moment of bliss and his battle fell away. He was one being, one mind, in any form he chose. The moment disappeared, as ephemeral as the flashes teasing his mind.

The wolf inside him raged and he headed for his bedroom, dug through his drawer, and pulled a plastic zipper bag from it. The torn remnants of his tee shirt were clearly visible. He'd been wearing it the night of Joyce's dinner. He didn't remember how he had gotten loose or why he had been clothed when he changed, but the next morning he had found this shirt. He hadn't meant to keep it, but the scent was intoxicating. He flopped back on his bed, clutching the plastic bag to his chest. He pulled it out and sniffed it, letting the peaceful delirium roll him under. His nerves calmed. His body felt like his own again. The scent was home.

"Buffy," he said the name half like a thought half like a prayer. He was so screwed. Her scent was his comfort. He spent more time with Willow than he should just to be near her scent.

The phone rang and he rolled over to pick it up, but the thought of talking to Willow again made his stomach churn. He froze and let it ring, listening until the last trill of sound faded. He rolled back, wrapped the shirt around his neck and grabbed his favorite guitar. The music came naturally. The song bursting forth fully realized. He played it and wrote the notes in his notebook. Then played it again, adding nuance and marking the music as he went.

He felt his skin warm above his heart as he picked out the notes to the song he only heard when he was close enough to smell her. Buffy was the key to music for him now. His music, the soundtrack that had always played through his head only worked around her or with this stupid shirt. The scent wouldn't last on it forever. It was already fading. Desperation shattered the peace of the moment and he howled, full throated, the canine sound emerged from his human mouth and he shuddered. Tears trailed down his face and splashed on the warm golden wood of his acoustic.

He carefully placed the torn cotton back in the bag and sealed it. He felt bereft. Buffy's scent was his salvation.

"How am I going to survive when that shirt loses its last trace of her?" He stood and hid his treasure in his drawer again. It was bitter to know he was one stage away from stalker, weirdo boy now.

She had to be at the library on his moon nights. Each month he was requiring more of her time. She never complained. When he looked at her she always greeted his eyes with a soft smile and a nod of understanding. She was his friend, and he was hoping she would forget her cardigan in the cafeteria so he could steal it. He shook his head in disgust.

He felt his hands begin to shift and he punched the wall. He felt the skin tear and bleed as he yanked his deformed hand from the drywall. The shift was retreating He watched as his fingers became human once more.

Ten days, he was going to need to be locked in a cage for ten days this month. A third of his nights spent pressed against the metal with her resting on the other side. He knew she would be there. Unless circumstances beyond her control arose, Buffy didn't fail her friends.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Buffy was necessary to him, oxygen, water, food, and Buffy. He wanted a life with Willow's best friend. He closed his eyes and let the guilt wash over him. Willow had screwed him over because she was caught up on Xander. It had been a one-time thing. This was so much worse. It would destroy Willow, and Buffy still loved Angel. He tried to force thoughts of Willow. Her shiny smile. Her bouncy, giddy joy in life. She had been so nice and loving since Spike had kidnapped her, but his wolf hated her now. He licked the blood from his hand and thought of Buffy's sad, wistful expression.


	24. Human Frailty

Faith found Buffy sitting in the corner of her spotless room. Her arm was rubbed raw and bleeding again. Faith shook her head. She had been so jealous of Buffy, Ms. Perfect Priss Demon Slayer, when she'd arrived in town. She'd liked her too. It was impossible not to like Buffy, but living with her had opened her eyes.

Buffy had lost everything to her destiny. She was stringing stuff together as fast as she could, but her plans for the future, her happy home, had all hit the scrap pile years ago.

Faith had never had a future. Foster care and a junkie mom didn't give you lots of hope. Having a destiny had given her something, pride, self worth, and a place in the world. It had been a bitter pill to find she wasn't the only one. The chaser had been worse. She wasn't the best either, just the second in a series of also-rans.

Buffy had never seen her as just the job. She'd looked and seen the girl, like she wanted to be seen. Buffy had given her a room in the Summers home and a place in their lives. Hell, Joyce gave her an allowance, made her go to school, and kept track of her grades. Faith shook her head. Her life was coming together. She had a home and a family now because of Buffy, a reason to live. Her world was better than anything she'd ever imagined, but one thing ruined it all. Something was terribly wrong with Buffy.

"Come on, Big Sis. Time to get you to the doctor." Faith extended a hand, but Buffy shoved further into the corner. "Buffy, you can't keep going like this. A doctor might help."

"I don't like doctors. I went to Giles and he's acting all weird. He said we'd figure it out later, and told me to concentrate on the crystal. I'm so weak. I'm scared." Buffy rubbed her arm vigorously. "I'm sorry you keep getting stuck with patrol. I promise I'll do better."

"Like I give a shit about patrol, B. I like doing it. It's fun kicking demon ass. I'm five by five, but you need to go to the doctor."

"It'll worry Mom. She's been so busy with the gallery. I don't want anyone to worry." Buffy shuddered.

"I'm worrying, so you are going." Faith grabbed her hands and all but dragged her from the house.

The walk was slow going and Buffy startled at every noise, but they arrived at the doctor's office and sat in the waiting room. Buffy clenched her hand. in a white knuckled grasp, but Faith just felt a gentle squeeze.

"You really aren't kidding. You are weak as a kitten." Faith stroked her pretty blonde hair as Buffy's face crumpled and the tears flowed. When they called Buffy's name Faith had to push her toward the nurse.

"I'll be right here, B. The nurse won't hurt you." Faith watched her trudge along and felt like vomiting herself.

She flipped through magazines for a bit, but reading was so not her thing and the stuff was just boring. She leaned back and closed her eyes. Buffy had her back when the rest of the world ignored her. There was nothing she wouldn't do for the girl.

The nurse type woman called her name, and Faith sprang up. "Yeah."

"Miss. Summers is asking for you. She's a tad upset." The woman looked back and shook her head.

Faith walked into the exam room and saw Buffy starring at a small black and white photo, clutching a bag of sample medicines. She was shaking. Faith walked over and smiled at her gently dropping on her haunches and looking up into stormy blue eyes. Buffy turned the photo around. "You're going to be an Auntie Faith. How the fuck did that happen?"

"We will get the Scoobies on it." Faith patted her hand. "It's good news. I mean kind of at least."

"They look human, right?" Buffy asked. "I've only done it the one time almost a year ago. I was with Angel. They have heartbeats and toes and stuff. What are they?"

The doctor walked in and smiled at the girls. Faith looked up at him, assessing his character. He seemed okay, but this was some pretty deep stuff.

"Buffy's a bit shocked. Understandable. She is in need of food. I've given her prescriptions that need to be filled. She needs those vitamins and the iron pills. The twins seem a bit more developed than I would expect with their size. She seems fairly convinced they are real, now. She doesn't remember the conception apparently. We are testing for STD's. I hate to think it, but its possible she was…" He trailed off at Faith's glare.

"You think some piece of shit drugged her?" Faith growled and stood up.

"Buffy has never been this way before. She hates it here, but she's not herself. If you can get her to focus and identify any missing time in recent months, it might help her. Her gynecologist should be able to pinpoint the conception date more accurately. Try to get her to eat, and keep the arm bandaged."

"Thanks." Faith looked at Buffy.

"A psychologist might be able to help her as well. I think she should see one for the odd behavior, if nothing else. Buffy's a good kid. Saved me from a mugger last year. If she has questions, don't be afraid to call." He nodded and stepped back out of the room.

Buffy stood up and held the picture to her chest for a moment. She closed her eyes and hummed a little bit of some song Faith couldn't place. Buffy smiled.

"We need more fruit. Let's go by the grocery store and drop off my prescriptions at the pharmacy on the way home." Buffy gathered her purse and dumped the white bag and a slew of pamphlets inside. "We'll call Mom and Giles, do a dinner, might as well tell them both at once. Get the head-exploding out of the way." Faith followed her out the door and hoped like hell adults with exploding heads were the worst things they would face.


	25. Prepping for Battle

Buffy took another bite of banana while she cut mushrooms. Faith was glaring at her and slicing onions. She smiled and blew her sister slayer a kiss.

"Why do we have to make some fancy food?" Faith whined. "Mac and cheese is easier."

"Yeah, mac and cheese is great for a low grade on a test dinner. You're going to be a grandma and a grand watcher needs a little more." Buffy hummed that tune again and placed a hand against her abdomen, the slight roundness there was hidden by her bagging clothes.

"What does food do for the situation anyway?"

"Not much. I mean they'll eat. They'll have a glass of wine and look at the two of us trying to figure out what we've done. This close to my birthday, Mom will be thinking it's guilt over Dad's visit."

"Yeah, the ice skating thing. You are one kinked up torturer making a grown man take you to that." Faith smiled at her and winked.

"Seriously, I'm gonna have to give him the news, and I haven't seen him for months. I used to be such a Daddy's girl." Buffy stared off into space thinking about her childhood.

"You're the watcher's girl now." Faith teased her.

"Not lately. He's been so weird. Maybe he'll know if the weakness is a pregnancy thing. I mean I can't be the only slayer to get knocked up. There has to be info."

"I am sure he will figure it out if he doesn't just know the stuff. That man has a seriously big brain." Faith smiled and finished her onion with a flourish of the knife.

"Brussels sprouts or asparagus?" Buffy asked as she dumped the mushrooms and onions into a pan of sizzling butter.

"You're killing me, B."

"Good for the babies, good for the slayers. So, which do you want?" Buffy pulled open the fridge and pulled out the bag of sprouts and the bunch of asparagus. "Both."

"Yeah, cause serving both makes either more appealing." Faith groused good-naturedly.

"Pick one then." Buffy held them both out for inspection and waited. Faith glared at her again and picked the Brussels sprouts.

"You are going to be one hell of a mom. Those little ones aren't even out and about and they have to eat their veggies." She bent over and cupped her hand to Buffy's belly. "I feel for you. Auntie Faith will always have candy."

"That's right. Spoil them rotten. I'll be stuck with the dentist's bills." Buffy laughed.

Faith straightened and watched as Buffy filled a large pot. She hummed and flitted about the kitchen setting the pot to flame and spooning condiments into serving dishes.

"You're handling all this better than I would have expected. I mean with the pregnancy of unknown origin and all. I expected you to be even further round the bend. Of course, you are serving Brussels sprouts." Faith pushed up and sat on the counter.

"They need me." Buffy rubbed her tummy again. "I have to be strong enough for them. I know Giles will have a fit and everyone will think they are evil demon spawn of some kind, but I feel better knowing they are there."

"So, you've been thinking about it, too." Faith watched as Buffy gave a brief nod. "You're not burying your head in the sand."

"Nope, my head is sand free. I get that something is wrong here, but it isn't evil. The weakness worries me, but if I have to be weak to be a mom." Buffy shrugged.

"I've got your back, B." Faith stroked her hair as Buffy leaned on the counter next to her. "We will figure this all out. Those babies are going to be the apple of every Scooby eye."

Buffy grinned and sprang back to action heading for the dining room. Faith followed her and watched as she pulled out a plain off white cloth and covered the table. Then she pulled out four matching napkins and some rings.

Faith watched as Buffy transformed the room and made the table look even fancier than usual. It was the stuff Buffy just knew how to do.

"Hey, can you teach me about forks and stuff?" Faith asked.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "But we won't use more than one tonight. That kind of fancy is reserved for apocalyptic news."

"So sad that you really mean that." Faith laughed as Buffy glared at her. Then both girl's chuckled and headed to the kitchen to dish up the food.

Joyce arrived as they were carrying the last of the serving dishes into the dining room. She smiled at both girls and then jumped when the doorbell rang. Buffy rushed to the front door and let in a weary and distant Giles. He frowned at her when she hugged him, but she grinned unrepentantly.

"I can hug you as hard as I want right now and I love it. Don't frown at me, watcher mine." Buffy winced when he turned away, but Faith saw the look of pain on his face from her vantage point.

"Buffy cooked for us, G. She made me help. I so never want to do that again." Faith grabbed his coat and hung it up. "She made some beef thing you like and there are all kinds of veggie type nasties to go with them." Faith shook her head.

"Yes, well, perhaps we should head in and wait for Joyce." Giles looked down at his hands.

Buffy nodded and traced the edges of the small picture in her pocket. She felt the sadness push at her, her arm started to itch and burn, but she held them off with a hand resting over the lives that needed her. She knew she was about ready to go to war with the two adults in her life. Giles would flip over the possibilities of evil slayer offspring and her mother would start drinking before she let off some serious steam. It wasn't going to be easy, but she had the babies to protect and Faith would help her. She squared her shoulders and sat down gracefully in her seat.


	26. Rocks and Hard Places

Giles stared at the remnants of his meal and tried to remember what it had tasted like. Buffy had gone to such effort. He could see how shaken she was, how thin. He closed his eyes. The council members had observed her weakness today. The test would begin in five days. He had three doses left to give her. He shook as he looked up from his plate to find three women staring at him. The three most beautiful creatures he'd ever seen.

His eyes locked on Joyce and he knew that he would lose her before he had ever asked her for a simple date. When Buffy was tested, even if everything went well, he would loose all three of them. His lovely slayers and the woman he had only begun to imagine a future with.

Buffy cleared her throat and looked at him with a sad smile. "Faith dragged me to the doctor today. I've been so weak, and my healing isn't working quite right."

"I didn't realize you were sick, Buffy. I would have taken you." Joyce looked alarmed.

"Yeah, Faith got me there with no fuss and no muss. So, it's of the good. Okay?" Buffy asked. Joyce nodded and sent Faith a grateful look.

"Buffy, why would you go to the doctor? I told you we would look into it soon." Giles swallowed the bile rising in his throat.

"I know, but I've been throwing up for a while, and my arm has been bothering me for a long time. I needed to go, and at least I know why I've been feeling so sick."

His world narrowed down to her face. He tensed ready for her to fling her anger and hatred at him. Each breath was suddenly labored. His body flushed and chilled in moments.

Buffy looked down and took a deep breath. "Turns out I'm pregnant."

Giles heard the words, but they had no meaning. He heard Joyce's chair clatter as she shoved it back and stood. Faith stood and seemed to be handling that with quiet murmurs.

"Earth to Giles. Do you read me?" Buffy was staring at him with concern. "Are you okay?"

Giles pushed his chair away and emptied his stomach all over the lovely rug. On his knees, he stared down at his half digested meal. Buffy had come round the table. Her hand was on his shoulder, she was wiping at his mouth with a napkin, and he could here the flutter of their speech, all three of them upset.

"Giles, stand up." Buffy's voice cut through his mental storm. "I'm not strong enough to lift you. Please."

He turned and focused on her beloved face and his world shattered into a million pieces. He thought of the injections and cursed. There was life inside her. He looked at her hand pressed against the faint curve of her stomach and found his body bent over and vomiting again.

She was pregnant and he had pumped that vile crap into her. He was a worse monster than any she slayed. He felt the tears come.

"Faith, can you get him to the rest room? I'm not strong enough to get him up right now." Buffy said.

"Sure thing, B."

"Good. Mom will be into the schnapps by now. Let me get this mess cleaned up." Buffy sighed.

"Maybe the momentous news would have gone down better on an empty stomach." Faith chuckled.

"I've got to get this cleaned up, or Mom will have another thing to get crazy about." Buffy headed for the kitchen and groaned when she saw her mom on the back porch with a bottle in her hand.

Giles managed to pull himself upright and stared at her stricken face. She was pressing her hand against that curve that had been hidden by her clothing again.

"I'm sorry Buffy." He choked out the words and felt tears on his face.

"Giles, it's just a rug. No big. I'll clean it." She grabbed a bucket from beneath the kitchen sink and headed back to the dining room.

Faith tried to pull him to the bathroom, but he resisted. "Go, deal with Joyce. I'm okay. I want to talk with Buffy." Giles focused on her, and saw her stare out the kitchen window and shudder.

"Be good to Buffy. She's barely holding on. Those babies seem to be giving her something to focus on. Try not to scare her with the possibilities." Faith said and let him go.

He felt loose limbed and beaten as he walked into the dining room. His guilt flared sharper as he watched Buffy cleaning up his mess. She would never forgive him. He would never forgive himself.

"Buffy, I'm so sorry." He flopped into a chair. "I should have paid more attention. I should have stood my ground or found a way, but they threatened you."

Buffy sat back on her heals and stared up at him. Her eyes were wary. "They?"

One word, a question he didn't want to answer. He looked at her, the daughter of his heart. Her needs came before his own they played on that. Saving her had been his focus, but he had stopped seeing her in the process. She looked frail and frightened.

"The bloody Council. There's a test. Every slayer that makes it to your age must face. The Cruciamentum is horrible and archaic, and it hasn't been used in a very long while. Travers showed up two weeks ago. I refused to administer it, but he didn't come alone Buffy. He brought a wet works team."

"So, plumbers or something?" Buffy joked.

"No, Buffy. They are the Council's assassins. I could test you or they would kill you. It seemed like a simple choice, but I should have known it would be worse than I imagined."

Buffy stood and he could see the tension racing through her. She pulled a small picture from her pocket and pressed it to her chest for a moment. Then she turned it, showing him the odd white images on a field of black. "Will they wait to kill me if I ask them? It's twins. Will they let me deliver them? Can my babies have a chance?"

Giles felt his heart tear apart as he sprang from the chair and pulled her into his arms. "I started the test, Buffy. I gave you some of a series of injections to make you weak. I hope they haven't hurt your babies. I pray I haven't."

Buffy stiffened in his arms as the memories of her meditation training came clear in her mind. She tried to shove him away from her, but only managed to gain a few inches. She growled and shrugged against his arms. He let her go and watched as she wrapped her arms around her middle. She started to shake and he followed as she stumbled from the room and collapsed against the stairs.

She put her head between her knees and gulped at the air. He stood next to her and rubbed his hand along her back. She slowly regained control. Her tearstained cheeks glistened as she looked up and locked gazes with him.

"I'll pass their damn test, but Faith won't face it. She's had enough kicks in the teeth." One hand pressed the photo to her chest and the other settled protectively over her womb. "My babies are okay. They are small, but perfect. They have heartbeats and fingers and lots of other stuff."

"Buffy, I'm so sorry. I can never make this up to you." He trailed off as she grabbed his shoulder and stood up.

"I don't give a shit. I need you to help me get through this damn test. I need you to help me survive and be a mother. When I go, my babies will need you because I have no idea how they got in there and they will need family. I'm pissed, but we will be okay. We have to be. I'm done with the council though. No more of their shit. I have to fight evil all the time. I don't need them landing me and my team between a rock and a hard place."

He felt joy surge through him even as his mind locked in on the oddities of her words. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She squeezed him back with her weakened arms.

"So, I take it conception is a mystery." He said against her temple.

"Yep, but they are human and not evil. I'm sure of it, but can we save the scary stuff for later when we research?"

He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Why"

"We need to go find Mom and talk her down."


	27. Extended Family

Faith stepped out onto the back deck and fought down the urge to run. This family crap was intimidating. She watched as Joyce took a slug from the bottle and her mind snapped into attack mode.

"I thought you were so much better than my mom, but scratch the surface and you're off to the bottle." Faith sneered. "Not so different after all."

"You have no idea what its like. She has this whole secret life, and it always pokes its head up and bites me in the ass." Joyce spun to face Faith.

"Her secret life is saving the damn world, and maybe it has hit you hard a few times. Bet it hurts her more. Hell, I know it hurts her more. She wants to be the daughter you dream of. She's been fighting to keep that in place for you for three years. Now, she comes to you scared and weak, her life in turmoil like so many normal girls and instead of rising to the occasion you decide to drown in it."

"I didn't even know there was a boy. Angel was a year ago, and I know this isn't his fault." Joyce yelled.

"No, you want to blame her. She doesn't know how it happened either. The fear that has to be inside her, you have no idea. The twins look human, but she has to be considering other possibilities. I know I have been."

"She has to remember, has to know. She's hiding the truth. Maybe it is Angel somehow." Joyce started to pace.

"Do you even know Buffy?" Faith snorted. "She's been rubbing her arm raw for a long time, but you didn't take her to the doctor. She jumps at loud noises. All is not well in Buffy world, but I'm the one that dragged her to the doctor."

"She's pregnant."

"Yeah, how many times is she going to need you with so normal a problem?"

Joyce sat down on the back stairs and looked up at the stars. "What if I make this worse? What if those grandbabies are monsters? I'm scared for her."

"Put the what if's aside and be her mom. Give her a hug and let her know it's going to be all right. Help her get through this." Faith sat next to her.

"We will." Joyce hugged Faith to her with one arm. "Our little family is getting bigger and we will adjust."

"That's the spirit." Faith smiled, but grabbed the schnapps bottle and chucked it in the recycling.

Joyce flinched when the bottle shattered and looked at Faith, nodding her head. "I get the message."

"Well, let's go help Buffy deal with the vomiting watcher." Faith sprang up and raced toward the house to find Buffy and Giles at the door.

"There's bad news and more bad news." Buffy said with a grin as she plopped on the little bench by the door.

"Bad news first then." Joyce said as she stood up and placed a hand on Faith's shoulder.

"Well, there are Council dudes that are trying to kill me. I have a week and its complicated, but there's a test. Hey, good news, the weakness is just some chemicals they terrorized Giles into giving me." Buffy babbled.

Joyce's narrowed gaze fell on Giles. "Rupert, what have you done to my baby and her babies?"

"I don't know. Slayers aren't harmed by the compound, but I have no idea about the…" He gestured to Buffy's midsection.

"You mean they aren't harmed by it if they pass the test." Buffy shot a hard look at her watcher.

"There's a test?" Faith glared at him.

"We can yell at him later. I have to plan and I need to hop to it, so come inside." Buffy turned and they filed in behind her.

Buffy waited for them to sit and then began to pace. "The Council's water polo team, their pretty good, right Giles?"

"Wet works, yes." He replied clarifying for Joyce and Faith.

"Would they hurt my friends and family?" Buffy bit her lip and stared at him. His single nod was more telling than a long-winded explanation.

"So, if I try to avoid the test, they might take hostages or worse." She watched him nod once more. "Tell us about the test."

"The Council captures some vampires and keeps them alive for study. If a slayer survives to the age of eighteen, one of them is used to test her. They magically seal the vampire in a structure and send the weakened slayer in to face it. If she lives, she is considered an adult by the Council and treated accordingly."

"How many girls pass the test?" Joyce asked.

"I know of three in the last two centuries, three out of the twenty that survived long enough to take the test. There have been four that were called after the age of eighteen. They aren't tested." Giles said softly.

"How many slayers in that time span?" Faith asked.

"Thousands." Giles looked at her and rubbed the top of her hand with his fingers.

"The crap that's making me weak, is there anything to make me stronger, to counteract it?" Buffy stopped and stared at him.

"Actually, I think your passengers are making you metabolize it differently. You shouldn't be this weak yet. They moved up the test to this week because their agent reported you had reached the proper level. With no further injections your strength could return in three or four days."

"Will holy water hurt me?" Buffy rubbed her hands together. Giles shook his head. "Will it hurt the babies?"

"No, Buffy. It is water, blessed, but still water. If they are human, it won't hurt them." He watched her, knowing the pacing helped her think. She walked over to the mantle and pulled a vial from behind a picture frame uncorked it and drank.

"Buffy," Joyce shouted as she surged up. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Making sure, Mom. I don't know how I got pregnant, but I want these babies. I know they seem human, but I need to be sure. I'll be drinking holy water for at least a week."

Giles leaned back and saw Faith do the same. He tried to focus on what a week's worth of holy water would do. Then it came crystal clear. He sprang to his feet and grabbed Buffy's shoulders.

"Have you gone mad? Turning yourself into a poison is not the safest course of action. It's madness." Giles pulled her into a tight hug. "I'll tell them I broke protocol. They'll punish me, but it would be better than you taking that risk."

"They'll kill you. I just want a back up plan. If I can't fight it, and it bites me, I'll taste bad. I read about that order of monks that survived a concentrated attack by the Order of Bethesda. It'll work." Buffy's chin jutted out.

"Bathory, the Order of Bathory. It did work, but they lost half their number in the attack. Vampires don't always feed to kill."

"The Order died off, and its leader was bricked in and starved to bones and then ground up and mixed into holy oil." Buffy spat. "Those monks won. I'm not going in their with only one weapon. Keeping the rest of you safe from any Council crap is my priority. Angel will protect Xander and Willow. You're moving in here for the week Giles. Faith, I am sorry, but you've got Cordy duty."

"Where will you be?" Joyce asked.

"The library watching Oz. We have to make it look normal. So, We'll fight tomorrow and Cordy will offer you a place to stay. Xander stays at Willow's most of the time anyway. Angel can guard them easily without anyone noticing."

"How is Giles moving in here going to look natural?" Joyce hit a shrill note as she stood.

"He can tell the Council I am scared I can't protect her with my sudden and unexplained weakness, so I begged him and he couldn't figure out how to say no without spoiling their game."

"But," Joyce began.

"No, Mom. This is the only way. I won't run, but I need to keep you safe. I need my family." She looked at Joyce and Faith steadily and then looked at Giles for a moment before pulling them all into an oddly comfortable hug.


	28. Cold Comfort

Willow smiled at the vacuous teacher they had hired to replace Miss. Calendar. The computer lab was too much for the poor girl. Toying with the idea of forcing the knowledge in her vapid little head, Willow glanced at the clock. It was almost time for lunch. Oz would be waiting. She felt a rush of longing. She had called four times last night, but he hadn't answered even though she knew he was home. The locator spell wasn't even a challenge anymore. She checked him every half hour they were apart.

He probably went to sleep early. He'd had band practice. He might have been too tired. It didn't matter. Soon, he would want her back, and then she could give up all the damn magic that made her so cold. She rubbed her hands together to warm them.

The bell rang and she found Xander slumped across the hall from the door as she exited. He nodded at her and fell into step beside her. She touched his hand to see if he noticed the chill, but he didn't flinch or pull away. She sighed.

"You look glum." She smiled at him feeling the irritation of forced banter keenly.

"Well, why don't you?" Xander asked. "I mean Buffy and Faith had that big fight this morning, and Buffy's really sad. They were so horrible to each other. Since Faith moved in they've been like sisters and now Faith is moving in with Cordy of all people."

"Why do you care? Faith and Buffy and drama, they just go together." Willow rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"I don't like it when my girls fight." Xander said quietly looking away from her.

"Good thing none of them is your girl then." Willow purred.

Xander looked up at her and she saw a glimmer of willpower in his eyes. She bit back a growl and pulled him into a janitor's closet. She stared up at him in the darkness and rested her hands on his shoulders. She whispered the now familiar Latin quickly and pulled him down to her lips to feed from his humanity. She felt the cold recede and pulled a bit more of his essence into her before breaking the kiss. He wasn't recovering as quickly. She looked up at his now pallid face, his jaw hanging slack and felt her irritation rise. "I am your girl. Others do not interest you. You will do my will."

He nodded, and she smiled as she pulled him from the closet and released the spell. He followed her docilely and his borrowed warmth would last for a bit. Magic needed so much to power it. She rubbed her temples for a moment to push back the headache. Xander wasn't giving her enough fuel anymore. She needed to increase the power of the draw. She thought about hunting for a new source, but Xander would work well enough as a test run. No need to rush into something without the full knowledge of what it would offer.

She hummed again and rounded the corner into the cafeteria and saw Cordy and Faith sitting together with Cordelia's little groupies. She sneered at them both. Faith, always so confident, sure she could handle anything, and Cordy, so sure of her superiority, they really were perfect for each other. She felt the magic zing through her and break free. She couldn't call it back, wasn't even sure how she had done it or what it was, but the cold was back and her nose started to bleed.

Xander pulled out a tissue from his pocket and handed it to her, but there was no real concern in his eyes. She had lost her power fix, and he was drained. She cast a look for Oz and sighed. It was probably best he wasn't at their usual spot. She needed to hunt up a new source of power or he would figure out something was wrong.

"It really is too bad that werewolves are immune." She scanned the room and turned away. She needed to find someone alone.

"Get some food, Xander." He turned his lifeless brown eyes toward her, and she smiled. "Pay attention in your classes."

He shuffled away from her and she felt a flicker of some kind of pain. For the briefest moment she saw him, as he had been, happy and laughing. His life was less than wonderful, but he had always been so good at living it. Enjoying it. She focused on him now. He was still her Xander, just better. He was getting good grades and building a future for himself. She smiled at him proudly, the pain gone.

She headed out of the cafeteria to hunt up some power. She considered her options carefully. The thought of Giles alone in the library appealed, but he had some real power of his own and might put up a fight. She scanned the halls around her for what she needed when she spotted Jonathan darting along the hall.

"Hey, Jonathan," Willow plastered on a wide smile. "I could use some help. I can't find my history notes from yesterday. I've been so distracted. Could I borrow yours?"

"Sh-sh-sure, Willow. They're in my locker. Do you want them now?" He stared at her with a mix of shock and hope.

"I need to go over them before class." She smiled and touched his forearm gently. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"No, no trouble at all." He smiled a sweet, shy look, and then he turned scrambling down the hallway slightly ahead of her.

She watched him, amused by his antics. He had a little power; she had felt it when she touched his arm. It wasn't enough to provide a problem. She looked at her darkening veins and hurried after him. He was going to help her so much.

"Thanks so much for this. You have no idea how much I appreciate this." She said as she grabbed his shoulder and yanked him into an empty stairwell.


	29. Synchronicity

Oz stopped by the library to make sure everything was set for the night, and found Buffy practicing defense moves with Giles. He watched her stumble and rushed forward to catch her. She fell into his chest and the ever-present burn in his body ceased. Her body went lax against his, and he wrapped one arm around her to help her get her feet.

"Enough practice for now, Buffy." Giles nodded to her. "We will practice meditation at your house tonight before moonrise."

"Thanks." Buffy and Oz both said and watched as he headed into his office and closed the door.

"He's not letting you off physical torment early. Why are you thanking him?" Buffy asked as she turned to face Oz without breaking his gentle hold.

Oz shrugged and fought down the urge to tell her every little thought that flew through his head. He was very aware of the hand resting on her hip and the other on her shoulder. Probably best not to tell her he would be happy to sit and smell her all day long.

Buffy stepped back from his grasp and smiled. It was her warm sunny full on California girl smile. He felt the breath leave his body like he had been punched.

"Mom thinks I need to eat better, so she made me a lunch. There's enough food for six want to eat it with me?" Buffy gestured to the table.

"Yes." Good, one word, not too much, nothing that would give him away. He sighed and followed her over to the table. She bent over and lifted a large cooler to the tabletop.

"We've got a fruit bowl. I call the banana. Can't get enough of those lately." She grinned at him.

"Going bananas, I see." He smiled slightly when she giggled.

"We've got veggie sticks and some sort of white dip with green flecks. Knowing Mom, it's dill. Do you like that?" She looked up at him and bit the side of her lower lip.

He nodded again. It didn't matter what she offered. He would sit beside her and eat. The room was quiet. Her scent filled the air. It was so rich without all the distance and the bustle of other people. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and sniff her neck until she was the only thing he could smell.

"Ah, the good stuff, sandwiches. Do you want ham and cheese on wheat, roast beef and cheese on rye, or chicken salad on a croissant?"

"Three sandwiches?" He raised one eyebrow.

"Yep, Mom wants me healthy and Giles lectured her on slayer nutritional requirements. She's over doing it a bit. Why don't we each take a half and try all three."

"Sounds good to me." He sat down katy-cornered to her and lost all ability to do more than feel as their legs pressed against each other.

Her heat seemed to sear through the denim of his jeans and burn him from the inside out. It felt like shifting without the painful reformation of his bones. He glanced at his hands half fearful that it was happening, but his hand appeared fully human.

She shifted and the contact broke. He nearly howled. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths until he smelled something new. It was still Buffy's scent but it had altered subtly. His eyes sprang open and he looked at her closely.

She was blushing and arranging sandwich halves on paper plates. Her hand trembled a bit as she slid his over to him. He leaned forward and pulled her chin up.

Her eyes were a glowing stormy blue. His mind flashed and he had one of those odd moments of synchronicity when he felt like a unified being. Her skin was soft under his fingers and he trailed his fingertips along her jaw.

"Your eyes glow when the wolf is rising." She reached up and touched his hand. "I'd noticed that before, but I never told you. I think it's pretty."

"Your eyes are glowing, too. Is that a slayer thing?" Oz sunk his fingers into her hair and felt her hand press his more closely to her.

"Maybe, there's some weird stuff going on in my life, might be that." She blinked and leaned back from him but she moved their hands so they could continue to keep contact. The glow faded from both sets of eyes slowly.

"We should eat." Buffy picked up a sandwich in her other hand and continued the physical link between them, lacing her fingers through his. He stared at their hands entwined on top of the table. The flash was stronger. He could see her hand gripping a white fur tightly. The serenity of the moment washed over him.

He ate without paying attention to the food. Her scent and her touch were the real meal for him. He looked at her in wonder. She wasn't running from him. She was just eating and holding his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She passed him veggies and they shared the dip. It was seamless and quiet. Buffy had never been so quiet. Normally, she chattered and bustled. He smiled at her and caught her glancing at him as she grabbed the fruit bowl.

"Remember the banana is mine." She smiled. "Everything else is fair game though."

He chuckled and grabbed an apple. "Split the orange?" He grinned at her and she nodded. She pulled her hand from his to peel the banana and he fought the urge to snatch it back.

He didn't care what he had to do, what obstacles real and imagined he would face. He was going to spend a great deal more time holding Buffy's hand. He felt whole with her.

"Oz," she looked up at him. "We can't do this right now. There are lots of reasons, but I can't explain them now."

"What do you mean by this?"

"Us, a relationship." She shrugged and stared at the table.

"We have a relationship already. We are friends." He waited as her until she looked at him again. "So, we can have lunch together. It's okay."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"We will figure the rest out when we are ready." He said with certainty.

"What about Willow? And, well, there's other stuff." She blushed and wrapped one arm across her middle.

"We will figure it out." He stared at her until she smiled and nodded.


	30. Appearances and Subterfuge

Giles sat upon the tiniest chair in the room without complaint, his knees drawn up to table height, a good thing as he perched his cup of tea upon them. Quentin Travers paced about the room. Every member of his staff was waiting to do his bidding with bated breath. The suite was the best to be had in Sunnydale, but it was crowded and smelled faintly of the sweat coalescing on all the tweed wearing men and women. Giles felt the itch of his own suit keenly.

"Rupert, can you please explain why you are now living in the slayer's home?" Quentin stopped before him and sneered.

"Buffy is worried that she can't keep her mother safe if a supernatural attack happens. The drugs have taken hold of her. She's in a panic, begging to train. It would have seemed incredibly out of character for me to refuse her. She is a smart young woman. I thought it would be better to cede to her wishes." He kept his voice neutral.

"Be that as it may, matters are complicated by your rash decision. How can we properly assess her in her own home?" Quentin glared down at him.

"She still practices with me in the library. I thought you could assess her there." He infused his words with a worshipful tone. He could see Quentin preen.

"Well, Hobson did manage to test her with a bag of flour at the grocery. She really is weak as kitten right now." He smiled and rubbed his chin.

"We've prepared the Sunnydale Arms for the test. Everything should go smoothly. I must say, I had anticipated more trouble from you, Rupert." His gaze narrowed.

"I know my initial reaction was less than desirable. I am sorry. I had grown attached to the girl."

"Ah, yes, the lament of the field agent. Merrick went on and on about his first girl and he was quite devoted to this one as well." Quentin stopped and stared at his own reflection. "He was a fool. Dying in the slayer's stead. All of his knowledge lost."

Giles covered his smirk with a sip of his tea. Buffy had given him all of Merrick's things after the incident with Amy's mother. The man had made sure nothing would be lost with his passing. Giles knew he would forward the materials to the Council someday, but not while this toad of a man stood as ruler, never while Buffy and Faith stood against the forces of evil. The information was valuable, too valuable to be lost to this regime's bigotry.

A younger man came in the room and handed Quentin a fax. Giles studied him carefully. He was reminded of his father's young friend Blair. He was a good looking chap, best to keep him away from Faith lest she break the boy. Again, he sipped his tea to cover his amusement.

He ignored the fuss and let his mind drift. Buffy had been more relaxed after lunch. The food had helped and perhaps the quiet companionship of Oz. He was a nice steady sort, a good influence. Buffy was going to need steady friends in the near future. He grimaced as he thought of her strange situation, but he understood her need to put research into her condition aside until her current crisis was resolved.

Giles tried to shift in the tiny chair and sighed when he realized his legs had gone numb. He hated the Council's decorum. Perhaps the American children were a bad influence by the Council's standards, but he enjoyed their verve and bravado. His slayer fought harder because of her dedication to her family and friends. Both of his girls did.

"Yes, yes." Quentin glared at several of his sycophantic staff. "Blair and Hobson, go pick up Kralik at the docks and set him in place. The slayer is ready. No reason to hold off."

Giles fought the urge to hurl his cup across the room. They were bringing that psychotic mess in for her trial. They had lost two slayers just bringing him in. His father had railed against the waste of their lives, and gone on a three-day bender. His fingers tightened on the fine china of his cup. He closed his eyes and fought for the meek appearance that was required. It would do Buffy no good if he bounded about frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog.

"When this is over you will have to work much harder with the other one. She shows signs of rebellion as well." The pompous ass pronounced loudly.

"She might pass the test, sir." One of the young women with creamy skin and innocent eyes said hopefully.

"It is possible, but so few do. It is best not to get our hopes up." Quentin again studied his reflection, preening.

"Then why test them?" She asked. "This slayer has proven herself. Lothos, Nest, the Three, the list goes on. She serves our cause well. What does she have to prove?"

"These tests were put in place for a reason. It is not your place to question them." Quentin turned toward her with his eyes flashing. "These girls are weapons, nothing more. Don't let your soft heart betray you. When one falls, another is called."

The young watcher was not cowed. "This girl served us and died. She called her replacement. Kendra died. Now, we have Faith. What right do we have to test her?"

"We are the true soldiers. They are the tools we use in battle." He stared at her until she dropped her gaze. "I know this is difficult. So, few of them make it to this point. It would be nice to coddle them, but it would weaken them make them less."

Giles watched as the young lady stepped away and cast a furtive look in his direction, her sympathy evident. He turned his attention back to his cup. Appearances and subterfuge were his weapons, and failure would mean Buffy's death.


	31. Reflections

Buffy looked at her body in the bathroom mirror. There was a noticeable bump in her belly now. She ran her hand lightly over the roundness. Everyone was going to know soon. A wave of anxiety washed over her. Facing vampires, crazed Englishmen trying to kill her, and the prospect of coming motherhood seemed like little things in comparison. Everyone had been so strange lately. Xander was actually paying attention in classes and never had time for her anymore. Willow barely returned her phone calls. She pulled back and wrapped her robe around her, tying it carefully above the bump. She needed to finish getting ready. Oz would be arriving any minute.

She closed her eyes and dropped her head lightly against the mirror. Oz, just the thought of their lunch made her giddy. She rested her hand on her stomach feeling the folds of cotton press on the sensitive skin. It didn't really matter; he was Willow's ex, her best friend's favorite squeeze. She had no business starting anything with him now or ever. Long-term relationships weren't in the slayer handbook. She pulled back and looked at her reflection again and suppressed the urge to punch the offensive thing.

She dressed quickly in her comfy clothes and popped some lip-gloss on. Her hands rested on her stomach again, and she turned to look at her profile in her bedroom mirror. Everyone would know soon. She closed her eyes and fought the panic back. Her babies were human. They would get to have lives with choices, not destinies. Her eyes opened and she was staring into her own glowing eyes. She stepped back and took a deep breath. Not good, glowing eyes were not usually good. This is a pregnancy thing, probably. Oz's eyes glowed, and he hadn't been frightened of her at lunch when her eyes had. She watched until they faded. Avoiding the mirrors and reflective surfaces, she trotted down the stairs to wait for Oz's van. A night at the library with her werewolf friend was just what she needed.

Giles and her mother were talking quietly in the kitchen. She could here the murmur of their voices. She sat on the couch to wait, trying not to disturb them, but Giles had his slayer radar on full blast. He joined her and tried to smile. She hated that face.

"Can the bad news wait? Is it an emergency?" She bit her lip and looked up at him as his fake smile fell away.

"No, it can wait. Tomorrow is soon enough." He sat next to her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.

"Dad is bailing on the ice skating thing. It shouldn't bother me, but it does. When my kids are teenagers make sure to take them to stuff, okay?"

He shifted and looked away before nodding.

"I need you to say it, Giles." She stood up. "Even if I make it through this pregnancy and my babies are normal, we both know I won't be here to see them go to high school. Hell, I'll be damn lucky if I get to see them on their first day of school. I need to know they'll be okay."

"Buffy, Giles is not responsible for your children." Joyce put the cooler by the door. "He isn't their father. He isn't your father."

"I damn well wish I was." Giles erupted and stood polishing his glasses furiously. "I will make sure your children have as normal and loving home as possible for as long as I live, Buffy."

Buffy threw herself into his arms and gave way to the tears she'd been holding back. Joyce walked over and rubbed her back until Buffy dragged her into the hug. Giles and Joyce stiffened and Buffy hugged them a bit tighter. Giles grunted and relaxed wrapping his arms around both Summers women.

"I haven't felt this good in a long while," he muttered. "I sat in that room today, surrounded by people supposedly dedicated to our cause, and I lost my certainty in my vocation. They seemed evil, and counted me as a member. Thank you for being my slayer, Buffy. Without you I would be lost."

"I'm the lucky one. I got Merrick and you. I got the two best watchers ever." She rose on her toes and kissed his cheek briefly. "I lucked out in the mom department, too."

Giles and Joyce stared at each other for a moment as Buffy looked on with a grin. This week might turn out to be a good thing after all. She pulled away and grabbed the cooler as she heard Oz's van coming down the street.

"Gotta motor. It's almost moonrise." Buffy laughed and waved as she headed out the front door.

Oz was at her side before she cleared the last step. He grinned at her and grabbed the cooler. She felt her lips lift into a smile and she bumped his shoulder with her own as they turned and walked to his van.

"Mom packed way too much food again. Will you have time to share some with me before?" Buffy asked.

Oz tilted his head and considered. "I think I might." He shrugged and put the cooler in the van and held the door for her.

She watched as he trotted around the front of the van and slid in behind the driver's seat. Leaning back in the seat, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as her stress faded away. He hummed a bit of a song as he drove and she smiled.

"It's stuck in your head, too." She turned and smiled at him. "I hum that all the time, but I can't remember what song it's from."

"I'm writing it. I must have been humming it around you, and you picked up on it."

"I like it. Would you play it for me sometime." Buffy ran her fingers along the worn seat cover.

"If I have the time, I'll play it tonight." He grinned at her as he pulled into the school parking lot.


	32. Welcome Death

Willow paced through her room. Oz needed more and more time in his wolf form because of the clash between her spell and his attachment to Buffy. She closed her eyes and grimaced. Any spell that would break his bond to Buffy would kill the slayer and possibly him. She needed to find a way to ensure his survival. There had to be way.

Xander sat at her desk, doing his homework. She had drained him badly when he had arrived. Her power should be cresting, but there wasn't enough juice left in him for a decent refill. Jonathan had proved useful, but she needed more. She looked at the rat curled and sleeping in its cage.

Amy had power, she was a rat, but there had to be a way to get that power. She needed it. She leaned and looked in the cage. Amy would be able to fight her as a human, but in rat form she was relatively helpless. Willow tilted her head and considered the risks.

She stood and paced. The Amy thing would have to wait. She needed power now. She contemplated her options and her eyes landed on her history textbook. The idiot that had dumped Buffy before homecoming needed tutoring. Willow smiled. He would do nicely. She grabbed her notebook and paged through it until she found his number.

She hummed as she dialed, and watched Amy sleep as she made all the correct queries and responses. She hung up the phone and looked at Xander. He was in the way.

"Xander, go lie down in my parents room. You really need the rest." She smiled as he stood and walked from the room. He really was doing much better since she had started helping him. She smiled and looked in the mirror her hair was streaked with black. She grimaced and settled the glamour in place.

The doorbell rang and she skipped down the stairs humming as she went. He was leaned against the doorjamb when she opened it. His quick grin and easy confidence irked her.

"Come on in. I know you're worried about that history test on Friday. Let's get to work." She grinned up at him and stepped back so he could enter.

"Thanks for doing this. I know you're friends with Buffy, and I wasn't that nice to her. It's sweet of you to give me a chance." He smiled down at her.

"Well, let's go up to my room and get started." She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bedroom.

She activated the spell by mouthing the words. She could feel him vital and brimming full of the energy she needed. She spun toward him and backed through her bedroom door.

"This is it." She grinned and pulled him unresisting to her lips. The slow draw of power frustrated her. She clutched his body to hers and tumbled them onto her bed. He stared up at her with vacant eyes. She could feel the spell and the physical ache it created.

She dropped down and kissed him again, but it wasn't enough. She pulled back frustrated. She needed the power fast. He had it. The spell drew more as intimacy increased. She stared down at his blank, worshipful expression.

Oz was losing himself to the wolf. She needed power to save him, to free him from Buffy once and for all. She clenched her teeth and pulled her short skirt up to her hips. She unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down along with his underwear. His cock sprang free and she glared down at it.

"I don't want to do this," she groused as she straddled his hips and pushed her panties aside. She stroked her fingers along his rod and felt the magic flare. She slid her body onto his. He wasn't generously endowed, but she still felt the stretch of her folds around him. The magic grabbed hold of her and she rode him fast and furious.

The power filled her, heated her body, and she climaxed with a scream, her head thrown back, her body glowing and veined with darkness. Scott gasped for air as she fell to the bed beside him, her eyes completely black.

She sat up and stared at Amy. Extending her arm, she used her borrowed power to pull Amy to her shifting her to human form just as they touched. Amy fought her for a moment, but she was weak from the transformation. Willow rolled Amy beneath her and stroked her naked body.

Magic and life force spiraled up into her as she lowered her mouth to Amy's. Their lips met and Willow smiled against the welcoming softness. She glanced at Scott and transformed him into a rat. His clothing pooled over his tiny body. Willow broke her kiss with Amy and pulled him out by his tail.

"Looks like history won't be a problem for you after all." She stroked one finger along his soft brown head and floated him over to his new home.

Amy moaned and Willow turned back to her. She licked along Amy's neck. Enjoying the panic in the other witch's eyes.

"Baby, we are gonna have so much fun," Willow purred as she pulled her sweater and her bra off over her head. "Give me a kiss."

Amy kissed the pink tip of Willow's nipple and moaned as she sucked it into her mouth. Willow stroked her fingers through the girl's brown, silky hair. Amy nuzzled into her, unable to fight the demands of the spell.

Willow could feel the warm liquid from Scott oozing out of her and she giggled. "Look at little Willow Rosenberg now." She waved her hand and her clothing disappeared. She rubbed her aching womanhood on Amy's thigh. She rolled over and sprawled across Scott's clothes pulling Amy over and across her.

"Willow, please." Amy pulled back and tried to break contact.

"No, Baby. It's time to clean me up." Willow buried her hand in Amy's hair and arched as the girl's tongue licked at her dripping core. The magic flowed from Amy as the frenzy grabbed her once more. Willow arched back and screamed her release.

Amy collapsed against her legs. Willow splayed her fingers through Amy's hair, and pulled her up for one last kiss. Amy smiled dreamily down at Willow as their lips parted.

"You'll have company, now." Willow traced a finger along Amy's cheek. "He isn't very good, but you might enjoy it."

The magic swirled about them and Amy was transformed back into a rat. Willow picked her up and carried her gently over to the cage.

"I'll look into getting you some larger accommodations." She said as she secured the top on the cage.


	33. Belonging

Buffy pulled out the small tray of lasagna and divided it equally onto the paper plates. She grabbed another pair for the salad. She carefully finished setting the table while Oz checked the cage.

"You worry too much." She smiled. "Giles checks it on the days you need it."

"Can't be too careful." He came out of the cage and leaned back against it. The cool metal against his skin did nothing to alleviate the warmth building inside him. She looked lovely as she folded napkins for them. Her hands were delicate and he liked to watch them move. He liked to watch her move.

"Let's eat. It might make it easier for you if your tummy is full." Buffy looked up at him with a smile.

He walked to the table and looked at the array of vegetables and pasta before him. It didn't appeal to him much tonight. The wolf side preferred meat, but he settled and nodded at her sunny face.

She took a deep breath and watched him as he took the first bite. He looked up at her and caught her smirk.

"It's a meat sauce. I know it isn't steak, but it's better than straight veggie, right?"

"Yep," He grinned at her and took a deep breath. She was radiant in her leggings and oversized sweatshirt. She didn't need all the make up and the fancy clothes.

"I'm glad." She bit her lip. "You don't get much home cooking do you?"

"I cook. I just don't bother much." He shrugged. "Your Mom didn't make this, or pack it. You did."

Buffy blushed and stared at her salad. "I wanted it to be special, but not datey. I wasn't sure if friends cooking for friends was in our play book."

He took a big bite of the warm pasta and chewed slowly as he watched her picking at her food. "I think we can do whatever we want. I've never been once for sports."

She nodded and smiled at him. They ate in comfortable silence. Buffy cast glances at him, but she was unusually quiet. He waited. Buffy would fill the silence. Nature and Buffy, both not fans of vacuums. He smirked and took another bite of salad to cover it.

"Was it hard telling us your secret? Was it scary? I mean when you came to us about the wolf thing?"

Oz stared at her and cocked his head. He hadn't anticipated this one. She always surprised him. He looked at her. She was biting her lip and looking at his chin. He wanted to reassure her, but settled for answering her question. "It was hard. It was harder to imagine killing someone. You never made me feel like a freak or a monster though, thanks."

She nodded and bent her head to stare at her salad. She took several deep breaths and shuddered. Oz reached out and pulled her hand into his.

"What's wrong, Buffy?"

"I told Mom and Giles. Faith knows cause she dragged me to the doctor. I'm just not used to being afraid and I don't know how to tell you." Her voice broke.

"Use words. I'm not going anywhere." Oz took a bite of his lettuce and watched her fuss.

"I'm pregnant. I don't know how, but I am. I keep telling myself they're human, but how can I be sure?" She started to shake.

"Does it matter?" He asked as he pulled her against him and held her in his arms.

"The how or if they are human?" She asked as she sighed and leaned into his chest.

"Both." He ran his fingers through her hair.

"If I knew how, I'd be happier. The doctor implied I'd been drugged, asked me about missing time, but the only time I was missing was when we were in the rift for a couple of hours."

He nodded, and thought about how strange she must feel to have another life inside of her. He put his hand over hers and felt the roundness of her belly under the thick material of her shirt.

Their eyes met as he laced his fingers through hers. He felt her quiver and caught the rapid changes in her scent as she reacted to his touch. Her breath quickened and he leaned in and pressed his lips lightly to hers. Her free arm wrapped around him and she pulled him close.

He deepened the kiss and nipped at her lower lip with his teeth. She gasped and opened her mouth to him. He invaded, stroking her tongue with his own. She returned his affection tentatively at first, but then she turned and freed his other hand. Pulling back, she broke the contact between their mouths. She straddled his legs and looked at him with her eyes glowing. He rested his hands on her hips and took deep breaths.

"We shouldn't be doing this." She eyed him sadly.

"Why not?"

"Well, there's Willow for starters." She held up one finger.

"Not an issue. I am not Willow's boyfriend. I don't want to be." He kissed the tip of her finger.

"I'm pregnant with unknowable babies."

"Unknowable babies. I think that's most babies while they are on the inside. Plus, your babies must be pretty human. Demons smell differently. Your scent hasn't changed, just intensified." Oz smiled and met her eyes without flinching.

"I'm still pregnant. I'm awkward and fat. This is not exactly what I want you to see when you look at me." She dropped her hands to her shirt and pulled it up to reveal her very rounded belly to his gaze.

He looked at her in wonder. His hands slid from her hips to either side of her belly button. Her skin was tight as a drum under his fingers.

"You keep saying babies."

"Yep. Twins."

"You don't know who the father is. Does it matter? I mean besides knowing how they got in there?" He looked up at her as his eyes glowed green.

"Not really. I guess." She shrugged. "I would like to tell my babies that they were loved by both parents, and I wish I had some goofy love story for them. It always helped me to know my parents loved each other, at least for a little while."

"I can't fill in all those blanks, but, Buffy, I'm not running. You amaze me." He felt her tremble and smelled the rush of emotion through her body.

"I am still the slayer, you deserve better than me. You should run. You deserve someone who has a future, not kids on the way and imminent death on the horizon."

"Well, I'm a werewolf. You deserve something better than a monster."

"You are not a monster." She glared at him. "Don't talk about yourself like that. It makes me mad."

He stared at her intently. She never looked away or tried to distract him. He didn't frighten her in any form. He took a deep breath and battled his fears. It was past time for him to do something, anything.

"Buffy, I know I said we'd be friends, and we will. We are, no matter what." He drew another fortifying breath. "I'd really like it if we could be more, though."

She stared at him and looked down at his hands on her belly. She covered his hands with her own. A strange fluttering sensation in her stomach drew her attention, and they both felt the tiny nudges against his palms. They looked at each other in wonder.

"You really don't mind the mystery babies?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Buffy, they're part of you. My human side accepts them and my wolf side," he paused. "Is so protective of you, all of you." He traced his fingers on her bared skin.

She giggled and he stilled his hands.

"The mighty slayer is ticklish?" She playfully swatted at his hands and then tickled his neck. He raised his eyebrows at her, and smirked when she tossed her hands up in the air. Her scent swirled around him and he lost himself in it. His brain and instincts working together.

"Buffy, how long have you been pregnant?"

"Since I don't know when I got this way it's hard to nail down a date. The doctor said they were small for their development level, but he didn't give me a time frame. I have to go to another doctor for that. Why are you asking?"

He shrugged and looked back at her belly. It was probably ridiculous, and it might worry her. He stared at their hands resting on her stomach and knew those babies were his somehow. The wolf knew they all belonged to him. It had for a long time. He looked up into her normal, perfect, stormy eyes and grinned. Now, he knew it, too.


	34. Awakening

Buffy awakened in the warm embrace of Oz's arms. She had cuddled with him in the cage and they had drifted off to sleep. She stared down at his unchanged form in wonder. It was well passed moonrise and he was still human. She looked at his russet hair and pushed it back from his forehead. He was beautiful to her. She kissed his jaw lightly and went to settle back at his side when his eyes opened.

"Hey there, beautiful." He smiled up at her with an easy grin and pulled her down to him for a gentle kiss. She rested across his chest as their tongues twined and she buried her fingers in his hair.

"This is so a bad idea," she muttered against his lips. "We need to talk to Willow first. Angel and I have been just friends for a long time, but Willow still wants you."

"I will talk to Willow, but I don't care what she has to say Buffy. I've been fighting this for a while, and I am done. Man and wolf are yours." He ran a hand down to her belly and rested his hand there for a moment. He took several deep breaths. "As far as I am concerned these are mine, too."

"We can't even be sure they are human." Buffy pushed away from him enough to lock their gazes.

"Well, if they are mine, they won't be, at least not fully." He grinned as he felt a bump against his palm. "It's amazing you still don't really show. I mean a baggy sweatshirt and no one can even tell."

"Yeah, I haven't been eating to well, but they are okay. I'll be putting on some pounds, I guess."

"Buffy, you used to wear perfume. When did you stop?"

"I'm not sure. I guess smells started to bother me. Do you miss it?"

"No, but I think I know why I've had such a hard time controlling my wolf lately. I think my wolf needed to be around you. I love the way you smell. I know that's weird." He broke contact with her eyes and stared down at his hand resting on her belly.

"It's not weird. Werewolves are always hybrids, even in human form, right? So, scent is very important to you." She stroked his face. "So, you're a bit furry sometimes. I don't mind. I just wish you could be cage free. The not being in control thing has got to suck."

"Don't freak, because I don't know why I think this, but I do. You got pregnant in those missing hours in the rift. I don't know why or how, but we did this then." He looked up at her again.

"We can't be sure." Buffy leaned forward and kissed his nose. "But, I'd like that to be true. I want these to be your babies."

"They are. Maybe we should talk to Giles about it. Have him do some serious research. There might be some kind of spell we could do to find out I'm right. I don't need it though."

There was a strange sound and they both stilled. Buffy held up her finger to her lips and, moved silently into a standing position.

The rustle of clothing caught her ears and she flattened her body against the edge of the cages door. Any of the gang would have announced themselves. She pulled a stake from her boot and grimaced. A longer ranged weapon would have been preferable, but all the good stuff was locked up in Giles' office. She rounded out of the cage and found a vampire with brown hair looking at the remnants of their dinner.

"New in town? Or just new to the unlife?" She asked and moved smoothly away from away from the cage.

The vampire turned around and took a deep breath. He grinned and stalked toward her. "You're the slayer. Haven't been quite yourself lately, have you?"

"Well, we all have our problems." Buffy quipped.

"Yes, I suppose that is true. You trusted in your watcher, and he betrayed you. The whole council betrayed you. Don't worry I plan to eat every last one of them for you, but my master wants you. It makes sense now. I wondered why he picked Kralik, but a pregnant slayer, Travers must really hate you."

"I don't know this Travers guy, but if he hates me he can let me know on his own." Buffy looked at the man before her. "Thanks for the info. Run along home."

He chuckled and turned his back to the cage to keep his eyes on her. Her heartbeat raced. She wasn't ready for this battle. Her strength was only starting to return, but she couldn't run. Oz would only make it if she could keep the vampire busy long enough for him to escape. She dropped her shoulders and rolled her neck. Those defensive moves were going to get put to the test. She was gearing for the attack when he sprawled forward and a reddish brown wolf landed on his back. Oz slammed his front paws onto the back of the vamps head and a sound like a melon cracking reverberated through the room.

"Don't kill him, Oz. No bite." The green glowing eyes of the wolf focused on her and his tongue lolled out from his mouth. She paused and stared at her boyfriend in full wolf form. He was beautiful and calmly sitting on her assailant. "Good boy. Let me get the nasty vampire."

Oz lowered his muzzle and growled by the vamp's ear. She came closer and stroked his furry head. He licked her hand and she giggled as she pressed her stake to the vampire's back. The vamp was out cold. She looked up to see the wolf trot into the cage, tail wagging.

She was stuck. Oz needed to be locked up, but she needed to tie up the vamp first. She groaned and Oz strolled out of the cage buttoning his pants.

"Need some help?" He smiled as she shook her head. "Let me tie our boy up, and then we can lock him up in the cage.

Buffy sat in a chair, dumbfounded as Oz worked around her. He tied the vampire to one of the library's chairs and dragged it into the cage. The vampire woke up as he locked the gate.

"Who the hell are you?" It snarled at Oz.

"Her mate." He smiled and tilted his head. "You're gonna wish I had killed you."

Buffy looked up at him as he approached the chair she was sitting in. Her eyes were big as saucers. She smiled at him and then launched herself into his arms. He wrapped his body around hers and held her as she shook.

"I was sure we were both dead. I'm not up to my usual strength right now." She kissed the side of his face. "I was trying to figure out how to give you a chance."

"Buffy, you don't look for ways to save me anymore." He growled against her neck. "Our children are inside of you. They come before me."

"You can't be sure, but I am. I am very sure. Those two little beings inside you are ours. We are going to figure all this out. I promise."

She looked up at his glowing eyes. "You knew who I was as a wolf, knew what I was saying."

He nodded. Trailing fingers through her hair. "I can change at will around you." He held out his arm and his fingers shortened and claws sprang forth from the tips of his fingers. He smiled at her and let his arm go human again.

"How can you do that?" Buffy pulled his hand to her face and kissed his palm.

"Giles will help us figure all that out. Right now, we need to deal with our guest." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Let's get Giles over here."


	35. Watching and Waiting

"Blair," Giles looked at the vampire in front of him and then lowered his eyes to the floor. "Why did you come here?"

"Kralik wants his drugs. Travers is withholding them until my master kills the girl. He sent me to grab her and as weak as she is, I'd have had her. The werewolf was a bit of bad luck."

"Yes, I imagine it would seem so to you." Giles shook his head. "You were trying to kill her before you were turned."

"Travers says she is too independent. She flouts his authority." Blair grinned. "He picked my master because she's pregnant. Did you know that? Had she told you? The little bitch is just full of life."

"Yes, Kralik hates mothers. I do recall the study done when he was brought in." Giles turned away from the tied vampire and felt sadness well up within him. This remnant of a watcher repulsed him. "Are there any other nasty surprises in Travers' plans?"

"I was never privy to his inner plans. I was just a little sycophant waiting for a chance to shine." Blair smiled. "Pathetic, really."

"You were in the room, near him. You have to know more." Giles glared at the vampire.

"Even if I know more," he giggled and shook his head. "Even if I know the detailed plan, why would I tell you? You'll just stake me when we are finished, too noble to let me go."

"I admit I would have staked you. It was my plan, but instead I'll call Angel." Giles smiled chillingly. "If you won't answer my questions, fine. You will answer his. Believe me, torture isn't truly descriptive of what he can do. It's an art."

"Oh, a vampire with a soul." He said mockingly. "I'm petrified."

"Angel has a soul, and it tempers the evil in him. But he loves Buffy, will do anything to protect her. Angelus would just laugh at you in your piddling evil ways, but Angel will make you into a devotional to his lost love. You'll sing every bloody word out, and I won't have to raise a finger."

"His love is full with child. I'm willing to bet he's angry she moved on." Blair looked less confident than he sounded.

"He fought his way out of hell for her forgiveness alone. He stared down the maw of the first evil with no greater hope than to hold her hand. He will keep you alive for years, screaming until all you know is pain. It could be generations of slayers that come and go before he frees you."

"I called home to check on Mom, but she didn't pick up." Buffy and Oz came out of the office.

"He's got her." Blair said. "Your mother won't last long little slayer, toddle off to die."

"I'm gonna kill your master." Buffy smiled and pulled a knife from her boot. "You want a taste of slayer blood before I go?"

She cut her hand and squeezed a few drops out to fall on the vampire's tongue. Oz growled and rolled his shoulders, but her uncut hand on his back steadied him.

"Yummy," Blair said. He licked his lips looked panicked and burst in a cloud of ash.

"I'm going to go get Mom. Sorry I killed your toy, Giles. I won't turn anything over to Angel to torture. It isn't good for us or him."

"Perhaps, but do you know where he has her?" Giles glared at her.

"I'll try the place they had set up for him. If that doesn't work, I'll rely on Oz to find her." Buffy bit her lip. "I needed to test it. There was no other way. Wait here."

She jogged out the door with Oz fast on her heels. Giles watched her go with a sense of unease. She had a plan, and it worked. Her test proved it. He stared at the ashes. Joyce was in danger and he had to wait. Buffy would save her.

Joyce rose in his imagination, her easy laughter and quick temper, her loving nature. He had hesitated, but no longer. His family needed him to be strong, to stand up. His eyes fell to the pile of ash again, to clean up.

He was heading for the broom and pan to clean poor Blair up, when the doors burst open and four council members and Travers stepped into the library.

"We wanted to come and wait with you. One of our runners came to let us know the slayer was seen entering the field." He strolled about the space. "This is a nice space."

"Yes, spending most of my time directly above the hell mouth has some advantages." Giles said.

"What happened here?" Travers pointed to the dust and rope covered chair.

"My helpless slayer captured and killed a vampire." Giles said. "It was young Blair, I believe."

One of the four attendants gasped. Travers whirled about and glared at the man. All four straightened under his angry gaze. Giles chuckled and decided to play around a bit and see what he could discover.

"I don't believe she got much information from him, but she is rather talented at torture. Her association with The Scourge of Europe benefitted her education." Giles bent and swept the ashes into the dustpan. "Should I put these in a bag for Blair's family?"

"One fledgling hardly proves her competent." Travers said. "She must defeat the selected vampire to pass this test."

"Yes, I know." Giles smiled. "She'll handle him. Someone she loves is in danger. She will rise to the occasion. It is her way."

"She is a disgrace. The universe needs an upstanding and forthright girl, one that will be guided." Travers glared at Giles.

"Why do you hate her? She has worked hard for the world, saved it several times over." Giles sat and stared up at the smaller man.

"She is irresponsible. She refuses to cut her ties with her old life. She drafts friends to aide in her battles."

"Such horrible sins." Giles shook his head. "She will win this battle, and you will be forced to deal with her and her ideas."

"No." Travers crossed his arms over his chest.

"What will you do? Kill her outright?" Giles snorted.

"I will do what I must to protect our cause, our vocation."

The phone rang in the office and Giles hurried to answer it. He stood listening to her voice. Joyce was crying, but she was alive. Finally the words soaked in.

"She gave me the keys to Oz's jeep and told me to go home and stay there until family came in through the door uninvited. So, I'm here." Joyce sounded shaken.

"Where is she?" Giles removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"She headed off to follow the one that got away. She had a big dog with her. Is that Oz? His clothes are in the van."

"I don't know, Joyce. I'll find her and bring her home."

"Good. I need to see you." Her voce broke. "I need my family."

"We'll get it all sorted and be home for late morning waffles, I imagine." Giles smiled. "I need to free up the line and find out what Buffy is doing now."

"I told you. She hurt the boss guy and he ran off. She killed one of his minions. Oz bit the head off the other one before it could hurt her." Joyce growled at him.

"So, you did. I was so relieved to hear your voice that the words didn't register."

"Go find her. I'll have the waffles ready and the syrup warm." Joyce rang off and he placed the phone back on its cradle. It rang immediately.

Giles picked it up. "Joyce, did you forget…"

"I'm not Joyce, but I'm glad she's okay. She has my clothes," Oz said drily.

"Thank you, merciful heaven. Oz, are you okay?" Giles demanded.

"We are fine. She told me to call. The vamp we're tracking went into a suite in the swanky hotel by the park. I need to get to her before someone calls the police or animal control." There was a click and Giles dropped the phone. He was armed in mere moments and heading for the doors.

"Where do you think you are going?" Travers demanded shrilly.

"Your suite. It appears your pet vampire wants to kill you and my slayer is trying to save all those you left behind."


	36. Weapons at Hand

Buffy eased through the suite doors and found Kralik feeding on an already dead man. His lifeless eyes gazed toward the window reflecting the city lights arrayed below. She suppressed the urge to vomit, and took in the carnage and the cowering remnants of the staff, they were being guarded by another young tweed clad minion. She looked back to Kralik.

"Not your food of choice from what your errand boy said before I dusted him." Buffy said sliding to the side and keeping a wall to her back.

"You're weak and you've managed to take down all of my acolytes. Every last one of them hated you. Even the sniveling ones hate you, helped poison you. Why are you here with your three rapid heartbeats? Don't you want to run and hide until those two squalling brats can be torn from your body?" He casually dropped the corpse he'd been feeding from and stepped toward her.

"Yeah, I would like to save my babies, but my job description doesn't include any lines about maternity leave or any kind of leave, really. There are no vacations for the slayer." Buffy shrugged one shoulder.

"There is death." He smiled with his bloodstained lips pulling wide.

"Well, yeah. There is that, but you aren't vamp enough to give it to me." Buffy snorted.

"I am, but I don't want to." He stepped towards her once more.

"Bet you say that to all the girls." Buffy fanned her face with the splayed fingers of one hand.

"Most of your kind die on the big stage, they go out stopping some world ending apocalypse. Does it bother you that you'll be dying trying to save your murderers?" He sneered.

"Does it bother you that you're no more than a weapon to them?" She asked softly.

"You didn't answer my question, little mother to be." He rubbed his belly.

"In my way, I did. I imagine our answers would be the same. We are both their weapons. I'm the one they love when I'm doing my job in just such a way. You're the one they hide away until they want a new me. They won't ever love you." Buffy smiled at him sadly.

"You won't love me either." He stopped and shook off his vampire visage.

"Probably not, I loved Angelus. Sent him to hell with a soul on board to save the world. You don't want my love. The things I love suffer." She rested her hand on the curve of her belly.

"Did you save your mother?" He watched her hand rise and fall with her breath as she moved her thumb back and forth.

"Yes, I did."

"She seemed like a nice woman, but she's hurt you. That's what mothers do."

"I know your mother hurt you. What's hurting now?" Buffy asked in her sweetest voice.

"I need pills. They won't let me have them." He stomped his foot.

"If we can get your pills, would you be willing to go back into captivity?" She took a small step forward.

"No. They will just drag me out again. I don't want to be their weapon anymore." He rubbed his chin. "You really loved a vampire?"

"Yes. I still do in many ways. He's my friend. I'm in love with a werewolf now." She smiled. "I don't want to fight you. I want to sit down and rest."

"They poisoned you with babies inside you, but you're here to save them." He shook his head and lunged for her throat. She stepped to the side and he rammed into the wall.

"Being their weapon sucks." Buffy said as she kicked him and flipped him back against the window. "I don't want to save them, but I have a duty. I wish I could save us all." She rushed at him and plunged the stake in with all her strength. She struggled and continued to bear down as he bucked against her. His minion's teeth sank into her neck as she finally managed to marshal her strength and he dusted. She hit the cold glass with her cheek as the minion rammed her from behind with all his weight. She heard the scuffle of the watchers as he pulled her blood out through the wound.

The doors popped open and Oz sprang through and snarled. She felt the vamp release her and dust as he turned to face the new threat. Oz switched forms and caught her as she fell to the ground.

"Hi, Oz." She smiled up at him and he pressed his hand against the wound on her neck. "I got the bad guys."

"Well, that leaves the sorta bad guys for me." He turned toward the group of shell-shocked English people. "Can somebody get me a robe and a first aid kit?"

They stared at him, but none of them moved. A deep rumbling growl emerged from his throat and filled the room. Buffy blinked up at him.

"She saved your sorry asses, get a first aid kit now." Oz snapped his teeth together and finally a young woman moved toward the bathroom.

"I think we may have one in the loo." She went through a door and emerged moments later with a navy blue robe and a tiny first aid kit. She headed toward him, but paused by one of the corpses.

"You need to keep moving. The living come first when you are on the front line." He looked down meaningfully at Buffy. "She can't afford to stop and neither can you."

The young woman looked at him and came forward slowly. "You are one of her unsanctioned compatriots."

"I'm her boyfriend." Oz smiled as the woman dropped the robe and opened the first aid kit.

"Let me check the wound. I've had some training." Her calm and cultured voice at odds with the slight tremor apparent in her body.

"She's a watcher, Oz. They train them pretty well and I've had worse." Buffy raised her hand and ruffled his hair with her fingers.

"They tried to kill you. I'm not feeling the trust." He said as he stared down into her pallid face.

"Yeah, I get it. But there is a lot to do here and I need some help." She smiled and he nodded, mobbing to the side so the young woman could help Buffy.

"I'm Emma. You're the first slayer I've ever met." She smiled as she surveyed the wound. "This isn't too bad."

"Clean and bandage it." Buffy said. "We need to take care of this mess before the police arrive and start arresting the strange cult members from England."

"Don't worry. Giles is on the way." Oz rubbed the shoulder closest to him.

"Then you'd better get that robe on or he'll be useless with really clean glasses."


	37. Aftermath

Quentin Travers trailed behind Giles as he ran down the generic hotel hallway. There was no need to rush. He wrinkled his nose at the décor. Americans had no taste, no quality. He took a deep breath. In a few short hours he would be free of this armpit of a city. Things might have taken a bit of a turn, but perhaps fate had stepped in to give him a greater gift, Rupert Giles cradling the dead body of his slayer. He shivered in anticipation.

He watched his guard run ahead with that embarrassment to the Council and had to fight the urge to rub his hands together with glee. There would be a spot of bother with the Governing Committee, but he was prepared, had been for over a year. The test was sanctioned. They had turned from it when the warriors had become more important than the battle, but he had reclaimed it. He smiled and focused on his plans.

There would be a united Council. They would have to fall in line with him now. There would be no more dissent, no more pointing to Merrick and Giles as successes. Their choices would be seen for the roguish, disruptive, rebellious mistakes they were. Order would be restored. The cultish veneration of little girls would be washed from his Council. He would take full command as a general, a commander, a single driving force. The war would be their focus, the losses counted and studied, but not mourned. The focus would be turned back to the war, the battles just a part of the whole.

He heard the gasps as his guard turned and glanced into the room, saw the grief and horror on their faces as they took in the outcome of coddling these girls. He carefully moderated his own features. It wouldn't do to seem satisfied at this time. He needed to be calm and authoritative in the face of tragedy, a competent, controlled figure to cleave to for his battered followers.

He walked the last few paces, preparing to project the appropriate tone. He straightened his jacket and checked his cufflinks. He took the final step and pivoted on his toes.

The slayer stood in the center of the room, helping affix a sling to Ayers while Crewe stood behind her waiting. Giles and the young bitch with all the questions were on either side of Halcombe, working quickly to sew up injuries. There was a redheaded boy wearing his silk robe helping Ludlow and Byrne while directing his guard to check on the others.

It was a nightmare. The girl had survived, had wrestled victory from the jaws of his carefully set trap. He stared at her as she smiled at his most loyal followers, securing their allegiance with her gracious behavior. Brandt looked up at him with loathing, his freckled face more pallid than usual.

"We've lost Blair, Germaine, Hobson, Kober, Swift, Brimble, and Pye, Sir." Brandt reported. "Luckenbill and Fox, are in the bedroom. They'll make it, but they took the brunt of the initial attack. If the slayer hadn't come, they'd have drained us all."

"Yes, she is a remarkable girl." Travers fumbled for the correct response. "I'm sorry about your cousin. He was a good man."

"He was a stupid man. He invited Germaine in. Called out to him to get his arse in here and help us pack." Brandt turned away and hobbled toward the ginger haired boy.

Travers eyes locked on the young man as he competently dressed wounds while keeping an eye on the room. "You, boy, why are you wearing my robe?"

Bright green eyes focused on him and he felt a moment of dread. Those eyes weren't human. They glowed. She was dragging more supernatural riff raff along. Anger burned through him. She was mucking about with monsters again. She had no sense of propriety, of the proper order.

"Oz," The slayer said with a gentle tone. "Take care of those two. We don't need any more on our plates at the moment. I am Thanksgiving full."

Travers watched as the glowing eyes turned to her and faded to normal. "I guess I have a higher metabolism than you. I'd really like some chicken."

She giggled, and several gloomy faces in the room lightened for a moment. He watched his loyal cadre react to her and felt his gorge begin to rise. His plans were dust. His mouth dried out as he surveyed the room once more."

"I am quite impressed with your abilities, young lady." He choked out the expected words.

"Well, I could give a rat's ass." Buffy grinned at him, too widely. "You haven't sure haven't impressed me with yours. You didn't train these people not to invite the monsters in. They had no real weapons. You took the only trained fighters with you. You do understand this is Sunnydale? The dale of sunny? Hell mouthy land? Ringing any bells?"

"I will not be spoken to in such a manner." He puffed out his chest and stared down his nose at her. Some of his retinue looked away. "I am in charge of this operation. You will address me with respect."

"You just tried to kill me." Buffy finished seeing to the wounds of the man in front of her and stepped around the chair he was sitting in. "I passed your little test. I killed Kralik, managed to save at least some of those you put in harm's way, and have the clean up well in hand. Exactly what have you done to earn my respect?"

"I am the Watcher in charge here. You are the weapon." He spoke slowly, trying to help her grasp the situation.

"Buffy," Giles didn't stop stitching the wound on his patient's leg. "If you kill him we have another body on our hands."

"I wouldn't kill him. He's a little monster. I like to fight the big evil." She walked over and smiled up at him. Her delicacy highlighted by her shadowed eyes and the white of the bandage on her neck. "I just want him out of my city and out of our lives."

"You must realize that there is a proper order." Travers began.

"She passed the test Quentin. She is the order now." Luckenbill leaned against the doorframe. He was ashen, and appeared to have more bandages than skin. "She is an adult and our duty is to help her in her battle."

"You shouldn't be out of bed, Ian." Buffy flitted to his side and checked his forehead. "You're sweating. Sit down before you fall down."

"You overstepped your bounds," he continued as Buffy helped him to a chair. "Buffy faced several vampires with her diminished strength, showed us compassion, aided us. She is remarkable, and you are finished. Your resignation is expected."

Travers stared at the older man in consternation. "My resignation?"

"Better to retire, Quentin, than to be drummed out. They might let her young man have at you." Luckenbill said wryly.


	38. A Family Breakfast

Percival Luckenbill watched the blonde slayer sprint with the wolf running at her side. They appeared to be out jogging, but easily kept pace with the car on the residential streets. The morning gloaming made the fact that her companion was a werewolf all the more startling.

"He controls the change so masterfully." Emma breathed out the words as she too watched the pair. "I never knew such transformations were possible."

"There were some tales of it, but they were assumed to be braggadocio." He smiled. "It is rather startling to discover the contrary."

"Normally she could outrun us, not just keep the pace. Watch to your left. Faith is coming up quickly." Giles smiled as Faith leapt over a car and sprang across the road like a gazelle before falling in with Buffy. He saw Cordelia's car pull into the lane behind him. "Joyce will be happy to have both of them back in her home."

"She is caring for both slayers? Why?" Luckenbill asked as he shifted his attention between the two girls.

"Travers refused us an outlay of funds. Faith only had what Diana Dormer managed to leave her. Buffy arranged for her to move in and Joyce took to the girl. She is quite engaging." Giles smiled fondly. "Both girls are when given a chance."

"We are not judging your slayers harshly, Rupert." Luckenbill turned toward him in the limited space of the Citroen's cabin.

"It wouldn't matter if you were. They know their worth." Giles turned into the Summers' Driveway, pulled in behind Oz's van, and shut down his car.

Buffy walked over to him, morning sunlight glowing in her hair and hugged him tight. Faith came and wrapped arms around them both. Luckenbill watched the girls and their watcher and felt relief flood through him. Travers had been wrong.

Cordelia walked up the driveway shyly looking at the strangers. Faith broke away from Buffy and Giles and trotted to her side. Oz milled about their legs, his tail wagging, and shoved his furry head under Buffy's hand.

"Alright, alright, I'll open the van." Buffy groused and opened the rear door wide enough for Oz to slip in. He licked the inside of her wrist and she giggled as he jumped into the van. She closed the door and leaned back against it for a moment.

"You'd think we all haven't seen him naked the way he acts." She laughed as Faith and Cordy giggled.

"Some of us have been spared, Buffy." Giles smiled.

"Did you have a busy night or what, B?" Faith giggled and wrapped an arm around Cordelia's shoulders.

"Work related." Buffy sighed.

"Too bad." Faith grinned.

"Buffy, Faith, Rupert, the three of you had better get in here with your guests of I will toss these waffles in the trash." Joyce called from the front porch.

Oz popped out the door and grabbed Buffy's hand as they led the way to the house. Joyce took in their joined hands and her daughter's shy smiles and shook her head. Her daughter had found an almost human boyfriend while pregnant with possible demon babies. She looked at Faith and saw her holding Cordelia's hand while both girls blushed.

"Oh God in Heaven, Rupert," Joyce said as she hugged each of the teens quickly. "Look at the changes in a few days."

He looked down at her with a smile and dragged her into his arms. He looked down into her lovely face and smiled wickedly.

"We will deal with it, Joycie." His voice was low and husky. He traced a finger along the side of her face and then dropped his mouth to hers. The teenagers erupted in catcalls while the visiting watchers stood dumbfounded.

"Unorthodox." Luckenbill coughed.

"Extremely." Emma giggled.

Giles set Joyce back on her feet, and smiled at her stunned expression. She looked up into his eyes and a smile broke across her face. She put a hand on either side of his face.

"Ripper." She giggled.

"We will let the children sort themselves out after breakfast. I hope you cooked for Xander. We have company." Giles smiled and beckoned to their guests.

"Willow said she and Xander had things to do this morning when I called her, but I cooked too much anyway." Joyce smiled.

"Well, it's for the best. Buffy and Oz will want to deal with telling her about their developments when they aren't exhausted from battle and clean up." Giles murmured to Joyce before turning and continuing in a louder voice. "May I present to you Percival Luckenbill and Emma."

"Hollingberry." The young woman laughed. "Spent half the night sewing our comrades back together only to discover we've never been properly introduced."

Joyce stepped back over the threshold, but refrained from inviting them in. They shared a wry glance and stepped over the threshold.

"Your home is quite lovely." Lukenbill said as he followed the noise to find the teens happily serving up plates of waffles. It was a boisterous, happy group. "Yes, Giles I do believe I see what you have been toiling toward. You will need a staff with two slayers and perhaps an older fellow to run to England for you if the events warrant."

"Are you volunteering?" Giles asked.

"Yes, I am shamelessly begging to be included." Luckenbill looked to the younger man. "I wish to serve'

"I'll discuss it with Buffy and Faith." Giles smiled. "I imagine they will be pleased with you."

"I'd like to come on as staff, sir." Emma said as Buffy looked up from the cacophony. "I think my uncle would have wanted it."

"Who was your uncle?" Giles asked.

"Merrick, my first watcher was her uncle." Buffy stared at the ring riding on the woman's hand meaningfully. "How did you wind up with Travers?"

"I was asked to come. I'm a researcher for the most part. I never expected to lay eyes on a slayer, but I couldn't resist the chance to meet you. He wrote me such glowing letters." Emma looked at the ground.

"That's why you spoke up that day in the suite." Giles shook his head. "It seemed singularly unwise."

"I say we keep them." Buffy said and Faith nodded.

"I'd like to bring over young Wyndham-Pryce. He's a good sort, but needs to learn about the realities away from Travers influence." Luckenbill said. Giles and the girls exchanged glances. Faith shrugged and Buffy nodded.

"Well, that's handled." Joyce said. "We'd best get in before they go for seconds."


	39. Déjà Soup

Buffy followed Oz up the stairs and into his apartment. It all seemed familiar. Her slayer senses knew this place. When he opened the door she shivered, knowing what was beyond her sight, knowing the colors and the comfy spot on the couch. It was uncanny. Her mind always worked when she went into a new place, unable to rest until she could orient herself, marking exits and blind spots, knowing the field for the battle. Her slayer senses never failed her and never missed a beat.

"I've been here before, but I know this room." Buffy looked at him puzzled. She trailed her fingers along the arm of the couch. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not sure, Buffy. Maybe it's something to do with when we were in the rift. Some sense or memory exchange." He shrugged.

"It's like the soup du jour, but different." Buffy bit her lip and paced in a small circle.

"Déjà vu." He smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Déjà soup."

He tilted his head and watched her. Even agitated as she was, her presence soothed him. He felt at peace as she darted about. Her quick movements didn't disturb the wolf in any way. He leaned against the wall and smiled. Music played through his mind, rapid, joyful. She had accepted him, felt no fear of him. He felt whole for the first time since his cousin had bitten him.

Suddenly, she turned and headed for his bedroom. She flung open the door and looked up at the ceiling. A grin spread across her face as she looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars arranged to mimic actual constellations.

"I know what your bedroom looks like, too. Something happened to us in that rift. Didn't it?" She ran a hand over her belly. "Is this wishful thinking? Do I just want this to be true?"

He walked into the room and pulled her into his arms. He could see her facile mind at work. Her doubts and fears put up against the mounting evidence. She shivered and then relaxed into his touch. He laid his chin on her shoulder and rubbed her back with both hands.

"Buffy, you are mine." He pulled back and looked deeply into her eyes. "If these babies come out covered in scales and breathing fire, I am still their father. It doesn't matter. I know it, man and wolf."

"We should go out and have that talk." Buffy smiled at him shyly, suddenly very aware of their surroundings.

"We should, we will, but I think you need more convincing. You learn when you're moving. You like to do. So, I am going to move you." He lowered his mouth to hers and gently kissed her lips. He pulled back to stare into her lovely eyes, hesitant to push her too hard. She smiled at him and dragged him back to her mouth. He felt her hands slide up under his shirt. He let go of her to pull it off.

She pounced as he dropped it to the floor. Her lips teased along his jaw as her fingers worked along his arms to his shoulders. The strength in each touch thrilled him. She trailed her tongue down his neck, leaving a damp trail along his skin. He shivered as her nails scored the flesh of his back. She stared up at him slightly crouched, the stormy blue of her eyes shining and flickering. She never blinked as she slid her tongue up his chest. They didn't break eye contact until he tilted his chin up, exposing his throat.

He felt the rasp of her tongue glide along his neck as she took control of the moment. Her fingers traced the muscles of his back as she lathed his pulse with her tongue. The gentle scrape of her teeth on the skin over his Adam's apple set off tremors throughout his body. Her fingers continued their assent and twisted into his hair. She hummed as she pulled his face toward hers, reconnecting their gazes. Her breath splashed across his lips as she pulled him to her.

"You are mine," she growled against his lips. "I know it. I want to be yours, want you to know it."

"I know it," he said as he trailed kisses along her cheek. "Have for some time. I shouldn't have fought it. I wasted time, wasted away without you."

Oz slowly unbuttoned Buffy's shirt, staring into her eyes and enjoying the tiny sounds she made deep in her throat as each little disc slid free. Her hands stilled his, holding them in place with her shirt. He could feel the rush of her breath on his cheek and the thud of her heart under his fingers.

"I'm not pretty," she barely made a sound as she spoke. "I want to be perfect for you, but I'm so awkward and this isn't the way our first time should be."

He looked at her clenched hands, holding his. They were together, finally. He closed his eyes as a flash, a moment hit him. Her skin golden and taut, her flat belly under his hand quivering.

"This isn't our first time. This is one moment, one note in a score. This isn't a drop falling into an empty bucket. This is a wave in the sea, just one part of the greater whole. I won't measure us in bits and pieces. We are and we belong. The lives inside you," he whispered as he shoved her shirt aside and looked at the rounded curve it had concealed. "Belong to me. You belong to me. You protect the world. I protect you and them. There is no part of you that is not perfect in my eyes, so you sing off key and can't sit through a movie without talking. Still perfect."

"No way will anyone believe you are the talker in our relationship." Buffy smiled and let go of his hands.

He pushed her shirt off. The golden sheen of her skin beckoned to him. He pulled her slowly toward him, letting his fingers glide across her shoulders to her back. He smiled as she gasped against his shoulder when he pulled her to him flesh on flesh. He slid around her,pushing her panties to the ground.

"See, not matching." Buffy groaned as he looked at her standing in a white lace bra and blue cotton panties. "They should be matching."

He walked behind her and carefully unhooked the delicate bra. He traced his fingers up under the arm straps and pushed until they fell forward to hang at her elbows. He kissed the side of her neck as he slid his arms down and around her cupping her breasts from behind. She leaned back against him and turned her face to his capturing his lips. She opened her mouth to his and their tongues clashed. He growled, deep in his throat. She clutched at his head with both arms. His thumbs slid over her sensitive nipples and she broke their kiss to gasp against his cheek. He slid his hands down over her rounded stomach to her hips, his fingers slid between the cotton of her panties and the silk of her skin. Pushing down, he let the electric blue scrap of cloth fall to the floor.

"Now, you match." He nibbled on her earlobe before pulling her back. He lifted her in a swift motion, one arm behind her shoulders and one behind her knees, and carried her to his bed. He pulled back and looked at her. Her hair was spilled across his pillow, gold on dark green. She was like a shaft of sunlight in the forest, warm and golden, enhancing the colors around her. His eyes traced her form, elegant and rounded. Satisfaction flared through him. She was his and she was in his bed.

Music pulsed through his mind, wildly fluctuating rhythms and a constant melody. It was oddly divergent and utterly perfect.

"I love you, Buffy." He stroked the length of her torso with two fingers. She pushed up on her elbows and smiled at him.

He shoved his own bottoms to the floor and joined her on his bed. The warm scent of his love surrounded him and he felt it dragging at him, driving him. She was kissing him, wrapping him in her silken arms, but he needed more. He let one leg slide between hers. The sudden wash of intense scent hit him and he rolled her beneath his body, answering the call of her arousal. He felt the smooth glide of her thighs on the outside of his.

Buffy looked up into Oz's beautiful face and saw the panic edging in with the passion. She slid her bare foot along the back of his calf. She raised up and smashed her lips with his, biting at his lower lip as he pulled away.

Oz felt the swirl of magic as she bit his lip. He needed to pull away. Now, wasn't the time for the wolf. He needed to be a man for her, needed to be in control.

"Let go, Oz." She dropped her hands to his hips and pulled him closer to her core. "Be with me now. Just a wave in the ocean."

He looked down at her and she opened her eyes, glowing sapphires, and smiled. He felt the wolf push forward a bit and pulled her hips up as he thrust home. His body trembled and something dark beat against his senses. Buffy groaned and clutched at him, one hand landing on his chest. He slid his hands up her arms to comfort her and she thrust up against him. He snarled unable to hold the wolf at bay. They writhed and twisted, as he drove into her body. He felt the darkness dragging at him and bent down resting his head in the crook of her neck as his body stilled.

Buffy widened the cradle of her hips, drawing her ankles up to push him into her more deeply. she knew he was fighting his nature and the weird pressure in the room. A growl escaped her lips. He was her mate, she knew it. She wrapped him tightly to her and took a deep breath. There was no fear, no pause. She bit down skin the skin at the base of his neck and scratched at his back.

The wolf and the man merged within as the pain of her bite pulled him back to her. He howled and thrust into her as she screamed her release beneath him. Swirling lights of blue and green danced around the corners of his vision, but there was only Buffy now, her body, her sweat, her sweet scent. The darkness burst apart as he emptied himself within her welcoming body.

He pulled free of her body and looked down into her blissful face. Her cheeks were flushed and she was still breathing hard as he slid to her side and pulled her into his arms. He pushed the sweat soaked hair from her brow and pressed a kiss to her temple, delighting in her.

"You don't mind the wolf at all. Do you?" He asked as she curled next to him.

"You are the wolf. I love you in any form." She opened her eyes and saw the faintest pattern of blue on his skin. She pressed up and looked at his chest. "Are you all right?"

"I should be asking you that, are you all," he paused and gulped. "Okay? I was out of control there at the end."

"I'm fine. We are fine. I like you out of control, but I'm talking about this." Her fingers traced the barely visible symbol and he shivered. His eyes dropped to her fingers and he noticed the change. He was moving to look in the mirror when his eyes noticed the green traces on her arm.

"You've got one, too." He caressed her arm and her eyes flew to his.

"That felt weird, good but weird." Buffy looked at her arm. "We have to tell Giles, get the research going. He's gonna bust his glasses this time."


	40. The Broken Lens

Giles sat at the counter and stared at Buffy's arm. The faint trace of a marking was clearly visible. Emma sat next to him avidly sketching the design into a notebook. The kitchen was warm, and he wanted to strip off his tweed and roll up his sleeves. He looked at Buffy, reclining against the counter in a bright green tank top and shorts. It was her third outfit of the day.

Oz stepped in through the door, and nodded a greeting. He stepped up to Buffy, and trailed a finger along her shoulder. She leaned back and kissed his cheek pulling her arm free of Giles' hand.

"Not hiding anymore." Oz smiled.

"No point," Buffy grinned. "I'm not ashamed. I wish we could figure out how it happened though."

"I have an idea that might be of use," Emma put her sketch book down. "But there are some risks."

A low rumble filled the room as Oz stepped forward, eyes flashing. Buffy's marking glowed and seemed starker against her skin, more defined. Emma gasped, and Giles eyed the pair oddly.

"I suppose the new development you spoke of is related in some way to your," Giles swallowed. "Erhm, relationship."

"Yeah, Giles," Buffy blushed. "Oz, hush."

"Sorry." He stared at her for a moment and rolled his neck. "Trying to adjust."

"Slayer here," Buffy turned and wrapped her arms around Oz. "I'm pretty tough, and I want to know what the risks are before you go all growly and protective."

"Yes, well, there is a spell, a simple one, but it requires a commitment." Emma's fingers danced along the binding of her notebook. "I assumed that would be a difficulty as you are unsure of the parentage."

"I'm the father." Oz stroked Buffy's side. "I know it. My wolf knows it. It makes no difference if they aren't mine biologically, but I believe they are. I'm more worried about what's happening to us now."

"Glowing tattoos that keep getting darker are a little freaky," Buffy smiled at him and leaned back against his chest. "But I want to do the spell. I need to know they are safe."

"Buffy, the kind of spell she's proposing requires a commitment between the parents," Giles met her gaze steadily. "You need to consider the ramifications."

Buffy bit her lip and looked between the two watchers, trying to gauge their thoughts. Giles was agitated, polishing his glasses as he paced. He was worried about her, full of paternal concern. Emma sat, nervous, fidgeting. She wanted to be helpful, but her curiosity far outweighed any softer sentiments.

"I need to tell you everything, Giles." She swallowed and pulled Oz tight to her back wrapping his arms under her breasts. "I've been falling apart for months. Nothing's been right since we stopped the squidy looking things from migrating. I was rubbing my arm raw, right where my symbol showed up. I didn't eat, didn't sleep. I was a mess. I never felt safe. Then I found out about the babies and everything got better."

"I was aware of most of that, Buffy." Giles put his glasses back on his face and stared at her. "At least to some degree."

"I'm sorry." Buffy bit her lip. Oz rubbed her shoulder. "I know we've talked about this, but you were still so guilt having and chest beating. I just figured you weren't putting it together right."

"Yes, well, my guilt and culpability aside, I need to put it together right now." Giles looked sadly at Buffy.

"I don't remember anything much before Joyce's dinner party at the library," Oz offered. "But, I started to need Buffy after that. I was spending more nights at the library than I ever had before. I couldn't think clearly when I wasn't with her because the wolf side was always agitated."

"Did you worry the skin of your chest raw?" Emma asked, tilting her head and watching him with interest.

"No, but I would touch it all the time, just press my hand to it. When Buffy was around, it felt warm." Oz smiled at his mate and lightly touched her cheek.

Emma watched the pair, standing in the late afternoon sunlight, tapping her fingers lightly on her notebook. She had been researching werewolves all day. Oz had impressed her, and she had clearly seen how useful such a creature could be to the slayer. She watched as Giles pushed back and began to pace.

"We need to figure this out before Joyce gets home from the store." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Worried about what Mom will say?" Buffy grinned.

"She won't try to brain you, will she?" He shook a finger at Buffy and they shared a rueful laugh.

"She can't really blame you for this one." Buffy smiled at her watcher.

"She will find a way. Nothing stops that woman once she gets on a roll." Giles eyes dropped to the floor.

"Since the commitment thing isn't really an issue, how about we try that spell? Maybe get some answers or at least a little peace of mind." Buffy looked between the watchers.

"Oz, you realize you are affirming to the universe that you accept these babies as yours. You won't be able to walk away from them or Buffy." Giles flinched as Buffy and Oz both scowled at him. "It needs to be said."

"It has been. Now, stop saying it." Oz said calmly.

"The spell is rather simplistic." Emma smiled. "It should be easy enough for the two of you to do it. All you need do is sit in a circle, in the light of peace, and drip your blood on your symbols combined."

"No words or nakidity required?" Buffy hid her grin as Giles groaned.

"You shouldn't tease your watcher so." Emma mock scolded the slayer.

"She'll turn on you as well, Emma." Giles smiled at Buffy. "Just you wait."

"Oz could you draw the symbols out in some combined form." Buffy kissed his cheek and headed for the garage.

"Buffy, we don't know when the light of peace is. We need to research." Giles followed her and stood at the door as his slayer snagged a bag of seed. "This is a very base magic, but it could be quite powerful. We need to prepare for this."

"There was something dark in Oz's room today. It fought to hold on to us. I don't think we have a serious amount of time, here. I need to know as much about them as I can." Buffy rested her hand on her rounded tummy. "I think whatever happened to me, to us, could be an attack on them. The light of peace is easy for Oz and me. Sunlight is the light of peace for us. This is a basic spell. I know I'm not go, go magic girl or anything, but I have paid some attention. The simple spells either work for they don't. It's all the complicated crap that goes wrong all the time."

"That is an oversimplification. I'm just asking you to consider the possible ramifications, to slow down." Giles watched her yank up a bag of bird seed from a lower shelf.

"I get that. I get that you're scared for me. I would slow down, but that slayer sense you told me to trust in is telling me I can't. Something's coming, and we are almost out of time." She hugged him with her free arm as she joined him at the door. "It will be okay."

She broke away from him and walked out onto the deck where Oz was waiting with Emma. Buffy grabbed his hand and walked down onto the grass. They both kicked off their shoes and Buffy poured a curved line of birdseed coming to a point and leaving only a couple of inches open.

"Did you tell her to close the circle after wThey stepped in?" Giles asked Emma as they observed.

"No." She turned to him in confusion.

"It just shows me she has been paying attention. There are times when I wonder." Giles smiled and watched as Buffy and Oz entered the circle.

Buffy smiled at Oz as they settled across from each other. he put the paper between them and extended one finger, letting the claw form. He scratched her palm and then his own. They clasped their hands over the paper and squeezed until a few drops of blood plopped on the paper beneath.

Emma gasped as a visible blackness swirled around the circle. It flowed almost like a liquid. She turned to Giles, but he was studying the darkness with intensity. She turned back to it and saw a shower of blue and green sparks disperse the blackness. Five figures appeared on the birdseed circle. Three young women and two young men all looked about seemingly cognizant of their surroundings.

One girl, with long waves of red gold hair clutched a stake in her hand for a moment before sheathing it and turning in to face the two beings inside the circle. Two young figures coalesced between them, children a boy and a girl. Buffy and Oz smiled. They didn't notice their guardians.

One of the young men laughed and waved at the long haired woman and she shook her head. They made no sound though they were visible. The youngest looking girl turned and looked at them. Her hair was trimmed in a pixie cut. She had a small black rectangle pressed to her ear. She pulled it down and examined it for a moment, then she shrugged and waved at Giles. Her lips formed words.

Giles stared. Sure she had called him grandpa. He pulled his glasses off and started polishing the lenses. More forms appeared around the circle until there were nine individuals standing shoulder to shoulder. Suddenly, they joined hands. Buffy looked up at each of their faces as did Oz. They looked at each other and nodded. They let go of their hands and watched as the figures dissolved. Oz pulled Buffy into his arms and the collapsed in laughter and kisses.

"Why are they laughing?" Emma stared at the couple with a perplexed expression.

"Relief." Giles said still polishing his glasses.

Buffy carefully broke the line of the circle and stepped out, clasping Oz's hand against her belly. Her joy was infectious and Emma smiled at the couple.

"We are having a boy and a girl." Buffy giggled. "And then nine more. What do you think, Grandpa Giles?"

Giles heard the snap as the lens broke in his hand.


	41. Power, Power, Everywhere

Willow stalked along the city street, unafraid. She wasn't bothering with a glamour tonight. Tonight she was hunting. Her black hair reflected no light. Her long black skirt swished around her legs as she walked unmolested through the worst neighborhoods of Sunnydale.

She took a deep breath of the fresh air around her. It was pleasant to clear the cloying incense of her last stop from her lungs. Amy had interesting habits before she started life as a rat. Willow had been calling on the contacts she'd plucked from her pet's mind all night, building her power. The last little magic shop had been a gold mine of magical odds and ends.

She had found the spells to make Oz stronger, to ensure his life would go on no matter what tried to take him from her. He would be young and strong and hers forever. She giggled and wrapped her arms tight around her body, hugging herself.

Now, she just needed the power to work them, and Amy had known just the place to go. Willow could feel it like an itch on the back of her tongue as she closed in on it. Smart, really, to make it invisible to the prying eyes of the slayer, smart and wonderful. Willow slid her hand along the wall, and drained of a bit of the magic concealing her destination.

"So nice to be here, making it all deliciously easy for me," she giggled and slid through the door. It was a dingy waiting room that smelled vaguely of vomit. "The things you do for love."

Three little poppets sat in a row waiting their turn to see the man about some power. Willow smiled at them. They were too weak to serve her needs. She grinned at them and they scurried off. Willow watched the girls run off, and turned when a door behind her squeaked open.

"You're scaring off my super, little witch." The man was tall and unkempt, but he was powerful. It rolled off him in waves.

"It wasn't going to be much of a meal," Willow observed. "Three prissy little weaklings, too scared to do much at all."

"You aren't afraid." He smiled. "At least, you aren't afraid of power. Why are you here, little witch?"

"A friend told me you liked to share," Willow took a step closer to him. "I need power, lots of it."

"That much I know. I can sense your desire, but I'm not interested in satisfying it." He shook his head slowly and stepped back toward the interior door, never breaking eye contact.

"I don't really care what you are interested in." She darted forward and grabbed his arm. He tried to pull away but as soon as their skin touched he faltered. His eyes widened as the fear took hold. She grinned and pushed him back into the private room. "I can't go after the kinder, gentler, and appreciably more hygienic types. The slayer would notice, so here I am to give you the ride of your life."

She ripped his pants open, just enough to gain access to the necesary parts, and pushed him back on his couch. He sprawled across it, unable to fight her, but powerful enough to remain aware. She licked her lips, bunched her skirt up in her hands, straddled him, and slid her body on his. His cock filled her easily. She smiled down at him as she began to move her hips in little circles, each movement of her body pulling his magic into her.

"The things I do for love," she laughed and ripped his shirt open. She trailed her blackened nails along the newly exposed chest, glowing symbols appeared and faded. "I have to have it all, all of your carefully built stash. You did a good job gathering this, but I don't have the time or the desire to play in the muck for long"

She closed her eyes and imagined her wonderful Oz, coming to her in joy, free of her rival. His body would be warm to her touch and would drive away the coldness that had taken over her body. They would laugh and be free. He would be so happy to be hers again.

The thing beneath her moaned, drawing her back to the moment. He was a big man, a strong man, and powerful. She hummed as her body glided on his. He was everything she needed, a battery to power the spells that would make her happy future possible.

It was fun to see the fear in his eyes. He had gathered power for a very long time, but she had bested him. It hadn't even been very hard, well, a little hard. She giggled, giddy with the influx of new power. She rifled through his mind for spells that might help further her agenda. There was little of use. She looked down into his eyes as she drew the last bit of power from his flesh. She put a hand on his cheek and cocked her head.

"You've been quite yummy, really." She patted his face gently and let his body slip from hers with a damp plop. "It will take you years to recover. It wouldn't be very nice of me to leave you at the mercy of your victims."

"Let me help you." His voice broke as she stood and let her skirt slide back down her body, coolly detached.

"I'm not looking for anything you have. Sorry." She waved her fingers and watched the warlock turn into a large brown rat and scurry away. "One less problem to deal with once the slayer is gone."

She walked out the door and sucked the magic off his dingy little abode. There was no need to waste the magic, and he didn't need it anymore. She turned away and headed off into the night. She had enough power to protect Oz now.


	42. The Best Laid Plans

Joyce watched from the doorway as Oz cuddled Buffy against his chest. His fingers played through her golden hair and the soft murmur of his humming was soothing. Her daughter and the father of her grandchildren, wrapped up in the wonder of a future that they couldn't fully understand. They were so young. Probably still thinking that living on love sounded romantic.

She stepped back to give them privacy and turned to her dining room. The watcher brigade had set up a research center there. Piles of books had materialized in her home. She wasn't sure why her home had become the center of all this bustle, but it felt right. Her family was changing. Buffy had brought her so many new and wonderful people to love. Her home should be the center of it all. Her family for better or worse was growing, and she needed to provide. She stepped into the room with the watchers.

"I understand that the search for what is happening to Buffy is important, but the how of it all needs to take a backseat for a moment." Joyce said as six eyes turned to her.

"I'm looking for prophecies concerning the children." Emma smiled and lifted her book. "We will have information soon."

I'm not worried about prophecies or mystical consequences. I'm worried about my daughter's life. How is she supposed to balance school, babies, a job, and slaying? How have other slayers made this work?"

"Buffy is unique." Giles looked at her with sad eyes. "There have been very few instances where slayer's had children. Most haven't survived long enough to deliver. There was a slayer with a son during the nineteen seventies. The few others were centuries ago."

"How did the one in the seventies provide for her child?" Joyce asked. "Did she have a job or go to school?"

"No, other than the child, she was a conventional slayer. Lived a bit longer than most, but very much in the fold." Luckenbill said.

"What's a conventional slayer?"

"She lived in her watcher's home, was raised by the council. She was good, better than most, served the mission above all else." Luckenbill smiled.

"Buffy isn't going to do that," Joyce said as she took a chair at the table. "So, how are we going to help her?"

"I'm not sure what you expect of us." Luckenbill looked at her oddly.

"She expects us to help the girl that saved our lives and the world repeatedly," Emma said, her voice barely audible.

"It is her destiny."

"You sound a great deal like Travers at the moment," Giles smiled at the older man. "Buffy is different. Faith is also from a different mold. We need to adapt to serve their needs. It is, I believe, our destiny."

"Well, yes, I suppose." Luckenbill nodded his head. "But how are we to help?"

"Scholarships for Faith and Buffy, stipends to cover living expenses, health insurance. Your organization must have some of these things available."

"The Council does pay to educate watchers, why not slayers?" Emma shrugged.

"It could be argued that a more educated slayer would be more effective in battle." Luckenbill nodded. "The stipends and health insurance would provide stability in difficult times. It makes sense. I'll have to go back to England with the others to present the concept. I can make the argument and collect our things and young Wyndham-Pryce."

"She's going to need a large house with eleven children on the way," Emma noted. "Are the children going to be werewolves? Regular childcare and school might not be possible. We need to work up figures for you to present."

"I'm not sure we should tell them about the results of that spell. Travers isn't the only one of his kind. One pregnancy might be seen as an understandable accident, but anything else might seem like evasion of duty." Giles grimaced. "And the wolf thing might be a bridge too far."

"If we find a prophecy, they would have to accept it and offer support." Emma smiled.

"Or just kill her." Giles said drily.

"Never give bureaucrats more information than necessary." Luckenbill said as he nodded. "Buffy is a name on a page to most of them. Her babies are at best an inconvenience from their point of view. We have to protect her from the mundane dangers of this time, so that she can save the world."

"Their mindset will change as Buffy continues to succeed." Giles smiled. "Luckenbill's has after all."

"Yes," the older man blushed. "Having one's life snatched back from the brink by her nimble hand is rather transformative."

"Fine," Joyce smiled. "We need the financial security for both girls. Faith deserves as much as Buffy. They both slay."

"Yeah," Buffy leaned against the door jam with Oz at her shoulder. "We are not asking for anything above and beyond, just enough to take some of the burden of modern life off our shoulders."

Oz's hand tightened on Buffy's. She turned toward him in time to see his eyes roll back. She caught him in her arms and the blue and green lights swirled around them both as they slid to the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" Joyce screamed as she jumped up and rushed toward Buffy. Emma grabbed her before she could touch them.

"It's a spell," Emma gasped. "Maybe more than one. You could hurt them or yourself. This kind of magic would take a great deal of power. Are there any established covens in the area?"

"None, that would have this kind of power." Giles pulled Joyce and Emma further back as the lights flared brighter. His expression grave as he looked at the pair.

"She grabbed him." Joyce said as she looked at her daughter unconscious on the floor wrapped protectively around Oz as strange lights flared around them.

"They don't know how she got pregnant because some entity is working magic on them," Luckenbill said as he came to stand beside Emma. "Whatever is being done, we need to figure it out. We need to trace the threat, and we need to neutralize it."

Oz's fingers flexed and the lights flaring brightly around the pair withdrew. He stared up at the ceiling for a moment. His body felt strange. Buffy shifted in his arms, he hugged her to his chest.

"Well, not real happy to find myself staring at a ceiling, but at least we know there's someone out there playing with us." Oz spoke quietly. "I am feeling the urge to go hunting."

His eyes met Giles' and they both nodded. Joyce smiled as Buffy stood up. Buffy ran a hand over her belly with narrowed eyes.

"Time to get researching. I need to know what just happened. It was directed at my mate, but it affected me as well. Why?"

"You touched him as the spell hit. You're mates and you carry his DNA in your body. Whatever hits him is going to hit the three of you as well."

"First, we find out what, then who should be easier." Buffy said grimly. "We'll do all hands on deck at the library tomorrow if we can't find the answers here, tonight."


	43. Breaking Free

Angel stood outside of Buffy's house watching the warm glow from the windows. She had asked him to keep an eye on Willow and Xander, to keep them safe. He hadn't bothered. There wasn't much left that Willow couldn't defend against and Xander was always with her. He had spent the time staring at the floor of his mansion. Two of the sigils burned into the wood had evaporated leaving an unmarred floor behind. The spell was failing. He wasn't surprised to see Oz's van parked on the street. He fought the urge to walk away, to bury his head in the sand a little longer.

He had never really understood how Buffy had gone to Nest, gone forward to her certain death. He was shamed by his own failures. He had watched her suffer, hoping that things would right themselves. Now he knew the price of his folly. He closed his eyes, hoping that she would kill him again. Existing without her was too painful. Going on, continuing the battle for redemption was a fool's errand. He'd had his golden moment. It was more than he deserved.

He crossed the street and climbed the steps, remembering the first time she had brought him here. He stood outside the door lost to the memory of the sweet press of her innocent mouth on his. He shuddered. This house held thousands of memories for him. He knocked.

The door swung open and an unfamiliar brunette woman stared at him. She stepped back, but said nothing. He stepped over the threshold feeling the tingle of its power move across his skin.

"I need to see Buffy." He looked down at the floor. Another unfamiliar man walked out of the dining room.

"Oh, dear lord," the older man exclaimed as the mug slipped through his fingers and shattered on the floor. Buffy poked her head out of the dining room and rolled her eyes.

"Angel, please quit scaring the new watchers," she said with a quick grin. "What's going on? We haven't heard from Xander or Willow. Are they okay?"

He swallowed and stared at her in the revealing top. He'd grown accustomed to the bulky ones. She wasn't hiding anything anymore. Her pregnancy was bared to the eye as well as his other senses. He swallowed and tried to look away, but she was so beautiful in the golden glow of the electric light.

"I'm sorry, Angel. I should have come and talked to you," She wrung her hands in front of her. "You shouldn't have to find out this way."

"It's okay, Buffy. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I need to talk to you, Oz, and Giles."

"Okay," she looked at him oddly. "This is Luckenbill and Emma. They've joined the team. Play nice."

Angel nodded, a strained smile on his face. He stepped toward the living room and the watchers both shifted, keeping their eyes on him.

"I'm not like Kralik," He smiled. "You needn't worry. You're safe enough from me."

Buffy bustled back in and all but shoved Luckenbill and Emma back into the dining room. They went easily enough, but when Buffy bent to pick up the broken pieces of ceramic scattered on the floor, Joyce came out and took over the task. Giles came behind Joyce and stared at Angel steadily, the wary look still present. Oz merely nodded and moved easily to Buffy's side.

"Let your Mom pick up the mess," he pulled her away from it. "Angel needs to tell us something."

"Sorry, I'm pregnant, not an invalid." Buffy crossed her hands over her chest and set her jaw.

"Buffy," Giles nodded toward Angel. "This might be important."

"I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. I need to know what's been done to us." Buffy ran a hand through her hair and grimaced. "So, let's go to the living room and Angel can tell us what's important enough to make him visit."

Angel watched as the wolf slid his arm over her shoulder. He fought down the urge to rip into Oz. This wasn't the werewolf's fault. He watched them all settle. Giles never truly relaxed in his presence anymore. He didn't blame him or any of them.

"I know what happened to you while you were in the rift, and I know why you can't remember." Angel stared at the ground in front of the couch. "You seem to have figured out that you belong together. That's good. I don't know what else you know."

"How do you know all of this?" Giles sat back and pulled his glasses off.

"I helped Willow do the spell that erased everything after the rift from your memories. It was wrong, I was wrong, but it has done something to Willow. She isn't the same. I think she needs your help. She's doing something to Xander and some others. I don't know what."

"You knew?" Buffy tilted her head. "All this time and you knew. I was half insane, but I helped you fight against the first evil. I helped you."

Oz grabbed her as she sprang. He managed to keep her on the couch, but his eyes, usually so calm, blazed with fury. He rubbed one hand on her back as she relaxed against him.

"I want to dust him more than you do, Buffy," Oz said quietly. "But he knows things that might be useful. We need to let him talk."

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I couldn't face losing you, not like that. I acted on an insane impulse." Angel stared at her.

"Call the others in. My personal life is fodder for all." Her eyes narrowed. On Angel as Giles slipped away to summon the others. "We were friends, just friends before the rift. You didn't lose anything."

"I lost the hope that someday there would be a chance." Angel closed his eyes.

"So, you helped Willow do this, helped her hurt us both. Really everyone got hurt. All that memory tampering, how long did she have to wipe out?" Buffy eased back into the couch clutching Oz's hand.

"Willow is a real threat now. Magic users have been disappearing, I think she's consuming their power." He stiffened as Emma, Joyce, Luckenbill, and Giles slipped into the room. "I think she may have found a way to break the bond."

"Could that have been what happened earlier? Could she have tried to break the bond?" Joyce asked.

"I need to know more about the original spell." Emma said. "I might be able to figure out a way to stop this with enough information."

"I can sketch it for you, also a picture of what Willow looks like without her glamour." Emma nodded and tossed him a pad and then a pencil. He sketched quickly. The room fell quiet; the only sound was the pencil scratching the paper. Emma stepped closer to Angel and looked over his shoulder.

"You did blood magic of this type with a neophyte witch? Are you demented or merely insane?" Emma rocked back and looked around the room with a panicked expression. "Your Willow is turning herself into a succubus, and not an innocuous one." "What do you mean?" Oz asked.

"The initial spell started her down the path, but if she's killed anyone it may be too late." Emma shook her head before turning back to Angel. "How are you even here?"

"I wanted to come and tell you for so long." Angel looked at Buffy. "Today two of the sigils evaporated and I knew I had to come tell you."

"If the sigils are evaporating then Buffy and Oz are reversing the spell. There's a chance that reversing the spell completely would stop her. If not, there are things that can be done to redeem her, but we need to act quickly."

"How can Buffy and Oz reverse the spell?" Joyce asked.

"The spell disrupted their bond. Every time they reassert it, it weakens the spell." Luckenbill shrugged. "The question becomes how they can reaffirm it next."

"Can we do a spell to restore our memories?" Buffy asked.

"Not without risking yourselves." Giles said.

"Their things are in my attic. The things they brought back from the rift. Could they help?" Angel asked.

"Go get them, now." Buffy glared at him. "Even if they don't help. I want them."

"I need to see the sigils in person. I have a little talent. I might be able to lift them." Emma said.

"Then I should accompany you," Giles said and turned to look at Buffy. "Try thinking about your future. I think that's the key."

Buffy nodded and watched as Giles and Emma departed with Angel. She grimaced. Her hand rubbed her belly.

"I hate him having to go back there." Buffy said. Oz rubbed her shoulder.

"He loves you," Joyce said softly. "He had to go. He has more than a little talent. He might be able to do more to help then Emma."

"He knows the dangers that vampire poses better than most. He is a good man." Luckenbill smiled. "Let him do what he must."

Oz pushed off the couch arm to get up and it pulled free of the couch and tumbled to the floor. Buffy sprang up to avoid sliding. Everyone stared at it. Luckenbill pulled a knife and sent it hurtling towards Oz. Oz flipped around and snatched it.

"Oh, dear lord, he has slayer strengths." Luckenbill said in awe.


	44. Memories and Dreams

Emma followed Giles and the brooding vampire into the mansion. She saw the hesitation in Giles stride, and wondered what had happened here to make the confident man falter even if it was only for the space of three strides. The house was huge, lovely really.

They followed their host into the house and came to a halt just inside the main door. The vampire seemed to shrink in on himself as he looked at the rug on his living room floor. He kept his eyes averted from the space and from Giles. She could sense the darkness and stepped toward the living room.

"Let him go first and roll it up." Giles grabbed her arm to stop her forward momentum. "We need to see that there is no trap."

"I thought you trusted this vampire." Emma whispered.

"He can hear you," Giles said with a wry grin. "Only trust him as far as you must. He hasn't earned more than that from us. You can never let your guard down around him."

She nodded and continued looking around. It really was quite a place. She noticed the evidence of a battle, a sword mark in the wall. Someone in a wheel chair had lived here. She could clearly see the scuffmarks from its tires.

"This place seems like an odd choice for a vampire. It's all windows and a giant courtyard and balcony." Emma said.

"It was vacant, had a basement, and met my immediate needs. I've stayed here because it was easier to keep my distance from Buffy with the constant reminder of what happens when I don't surrounding me." Angel looked over his shoulder at them.

"Finally acknowledging the truth of your existence?" Giles asked and stepped into the living room.

"What do you mean?" Angel snarled as he rolled the rug up.

"The soul doesn't make you a different person. You are Angelus. What you've done to Buffy with this spell proves it." Giles glared down at Angel as he crouched by the rolled up rug.

"She's all I ever wanted in the world, from it. The promise of her kisses, the joy in her touch," Angel said softly as he stood. "Leaving this place would make it easy to forget."

"Forget what?" Emma asked as she joined Giles.

"The heaven I find in her, flings the whole world into hell. I thought she was the prize at the end of the journey, but I think she's the driving force that is pushing me onto the right path." Angel said as he stared at the sigils. He pointed at an unmarred section of floor. "There's another one missing."

Emma looked at the remaining marks and swallowed. The spell was awful, a punishing act by a vengeful witch. She looked to Giles and saw his jaw harden. He was holding a great deal of rage.

"You are not an idiot, Angel." Giles eyes shifted from the floor to the vampire. "A flaming baseball bat is too merciful for this act. You did this to her, your heaven. You did this to us all after we had accepted you again, put aside our hurts and outrage for the sake of your soul. You sat back and watched her suffer."

"I suffered with her." Angel snarled. "I watched her in pain and it tore at me."

"Bollocks." Giles stepped toward him. Emma reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Some of the spell is tied to him. We need him to undo it." She looked between the two of them and shivered. The naked agony on both their faces was horrible to behold.

"You've been waiting for the excuse to avenge Jenny. Now, you have it." Angel held out his hand as if presenting the floor as a gift.

"No, I haven't been waiting. I would never hurt Buffy like that, never take you from her like that." Giles shook his head.

"She doesn't want me, now." Angel dropped his eyes to the ground and his shoulders slumped.

"You were her friend. She still cares." Giles snapped out the words.

"She belongs to him." Angel said softly.

"And there's your problem, Vampire," Emma tilted her head and looked at him, watched as he shifted back and forth on his feet. "You want to possess her. She's a prize, a thing. No woman wants that. If you loved her as you claim, you would make peace with her and go. Earn your redemption. Don't look to her to hand it to you."

Giles nodded and looked at her with an approving smile. He stepped back from Angel and examined the floor. He bent down and examined one of the sigils. He traced a pattern in the air over it and watched as the pattern glowed green and settled over the mark. He took a deep breath and the sigil glowed green and then evaporated. Giles collapsed on the ground.

"My goodness, the things he can do," Emma knelt beside Giles, checking him over. Emma looked up at Angel. "You're a fool if you think a man that can do that is lying in wait for you."

"Why?" Angel snorted. "Because he removed markings that are disappearing anyway?"

"No, he used a part of his own self to free you from this spell. That sigil bound you to the spell. If we had broken it with you tied to it like that, you would be dust. He saved you." Emma stroked the older watcher's hair and watched as his eyelids fluttered. She smiled at him as he sat up. "Tell me you have a soda or something sugary. He needs it."

Angel nodded, departed at vamp speed, and came back with a can of cola. The kind Buffy didn't really like. He had stocked several to please her, but she never drank this kind. He handed the orange can to Giles.

"Why?" Angel looked at Giles and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Buffy might need your help someday." Giles took a sip from the can and made a face.

"You don't trust me." Angel swallowed and met Giles gaze with his own.

"Your still a powerful tool. She needs those." Giles smiled. "Especially with the future that seems to be headed toward her at ramming speed."

"I can't remove these." Emma gestured to the remaining sigils.

"I might be able to do it. However, it would be best if we saved that as a last resort. I'm too weak to be much use to anyone right now." Giles took another drink from the can.

"Let's get their things then." Emma glared over at Angel. "Where are they?"

"I'll go get them." Angel said.

"No, " Giles stood up. "You shouldn't touch them. You were part of the spell that brought them here and though I've removed you from the spell touching them could harm you."

"You shouldn't stay here anymore either. The less interaction you have with this magic the better." Emma looked around her. "This place will have to be cleansed once the spell is removed."

"Well, it can't be worse than removing the abattoir." Angel shrugged.

Emma swallowed and looked at Giles with round eyes. He nodded and shrugged. She looked around the space with a critical eye. It would require a very thorough cleaning.

The negativity couldn't be good for the ensouled vampire anyway.

They walked up the stairs and walked past several rooms until he ducked into one. It was empty, no furniture at all. Angel ducked into a closet, pulled down a door in the ceiling by a long string, and folded down a wooden ladder.

'Go up and grab the stuff. I can't stand having it here anyway. It smells of them." He dropped his eyes to the carpet. "I can't even be on the second floor with it here."

Emma and Giles went up the ladder and looked at the baskets and furs arranged neatly in a row. Giles rubbed his temple then fell to his knees. She turned toward him.

"I can see Buffy with long dark hair and Oz looking a bit scruffier than usual. There was a cave and wooden weapons." He looked at Emma with wide eyes. "I was in the bloody rift. I was there. That forest wasn't just a dream."


	45. Someplace Safe and Warm

Willow wiped the blood from under her nose. She could barely stand. She had sadly underestimated her power needs. Killing the slayer was going to be difficult if she couldn't find another good energy source. Draining all the little magic users took time. Time that she didn't want to spend apart from her man.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember the feel of his hair between her fingers, his warm breath on her cheek. It had been so long since he had held her. Her shoulders slumped.

Xander brought her a towel, and stood listlessly, awaiting her command. She studied him. He didn't have any power left. His free will was gone. She needed to find a new power source and he wasn't it. She considered draining him completely, but decided against it. He was loyal and deserved to be commended for it.

"Xander, why don't you go where you want to tonight? You could get a good meal, and refill your reserves. I won't need you for a couple of days." She touched his chest. "Remember to study. Okay?"

He nodded and turned. She bit her lip. He had stopped speaking days ago. She missed his voice. Some time apart might be good for him. She watched as he walked away from her without a backwards glance. She wanted him to turn back and smile at her, but she knew it wouldn't happen. His smiles had faded away long before his voice.

She buried her head in the towel. She had no tears. It seemed she had lost the ability to cry. She sat on the tile floor of the bathroom, pulled the towel from her face and stared up at the ceiling.

The sacrifices she was making were great, but the reward was so worth it. Oz would be hers again. She would make him so happy. They would go to college together, get married, and adopt two lovely, grateful children, maybe three. It would be a good life.

She would have it all. She just had to find the power to finish it. She pushed up from the floor, grabbed her things from the counter, and stuffed the towel into her purse. She needed a quick meal to sustain her through the search for a new power source. She dusted off her hands and checked her face in the mirror. She didn't have enough power left to hide her hair, but she could still pull enough to emulate her original complexion. It would have to do. She headed out into the night, exhausted and needy.

Xander watched her go as he stood in dining room. He wanted to make Willow happy. She was the important one. She had told him to go where he wanted. He tried to decide. The library was closed. He could go up and study, but there was no meal here. He picked up his books. He would go to Buffy's. Her mom always fed him the best stuff.

He stepped out the door and closed it behind him. He blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He thought of the casseroles Buffy's mom always heated up for him and he took off at a run. The few blocks between the two houses were nothing. There was a good meal and a safe place to study. It was all he wanted. It would make Willow happy.

He slowed and walked to the door of Buffy's house. He could here excited chatter inside. They were home. He sighed in relief. They would feed him, he could study, and maybe he could watch some television. He wanted to watch some television shows. Some of those were educational. He knocked on the door and was shocked to see a new face.

"Is Buffy home?" He asked as he stared into the old man's eyes.

"Yes, she is. Who shall I say is calling?" The old man talked like Giles. He must be a friend or another watcher type.

"I'm Xander."

"Ah, yes. Another of her friends." He stepped back from the door and Xander crossed into the house with a nod.

"Xander, good to see you." Oz said as he knelt by the broken couch.

"Oz, give it up." Buffy's voice called from the kitchen. "Mom's used to a certain amount of breakage. You need to adjust. Come eat."

"Fine, but no more glass or china." Oz said as he frowned at the couch and stood up. "I'm tired of breaking all of it."

"One glass, two mugs and a plate are nothing." Buffy said as she walked into the room. "Oh, hi, Xander."

"I was about to announce him," Luckenbill said.

"No problem. He pretty much announces himself." Buffy grinned. "There's a fresh pot in the kitchen if you want it. There's lasagna and I made some sandwiches, too. There's plenty." Buffy grinned as the Englishman fled from the American teens. "He's like Giles was at first, all fuddy-duddy. It's fun."

"Is there enough food for me? I need a good meal." He swallowed as Buffy smiled at him. "You know Mom. She cooks away half her worry. The fridge is full up."

"Will she be mad if I stay?"

"Are you kidding? We're in circle the wagons mode. The more, the merrier. Where have you been, anyway?" Buffy smiled as Oz quit looking at the couch and turned his attention to the conversation. Oz took a deep breath and growled. He stepped between Buffy and Xander.

"He's been with Willow. I can smell her all over him." Oz rolled his neck.

"Xander," Buffy stood on her tiptoes and looked at him over Oz's shoulder. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"No," he answered. "I really just want a good meal and a place to study. Willow told me to go have a good meal and to remember to study. She told me I could go anywhere I wanted. Your mom always has food and it's nice here."

Oz relaxed and stepped back toward Buffy. He looked at Xander sadly. Buffy grabbed the red heads proffered hand.

"She did something to him. We have to help." She said sadly. Oz nodded.

"Yeah, she did a real number on him. There's magic infused in him. I can smell it. I want to help him too, but I won't risk you or the precious cargo."

"I just want to eat and study. Maybe I could watch some television if it's educational." Xander looked at the floor. He didn't like the way they were looking at him. He thought about begging. He really didn't want to go home.

"Giles will be here soon. He'll know what to do." Buffy smiled. "Let's get some grub and talk about what's been happening with Xander."

Xander smiled at Buffy. She was always so nice to him. She never made him feel foolish or silly. He would be safe here, safe and warm. He needed a safe place to study. He needed to recharge. Willow had told him so.


	46. The Electric Slide

Willow danced through the crowd wearing a new glamour. She had made herself into the kind of woman that made men pant. She wasn't mousy and sweet. She wasn't dark and dangerous. She was the embodiment of lust, a goddess dancing amongst her faithful. A couple of stragglers, waiting to be chow for vampires had provided her the energy. She grinned at them as they slept on the couch. They were just ordinary, but helpful, no need to expend energy transforming the nonthreatening.

She spun and swayed her hips as men and women caressed her. Each touch fueled her. The willowy new Willow drew them all in. Soon the floor was a writhing mass of dancing bodies. She tossed back her head and laughed.

There were couples and groups openly fucking on the edges of the room. She spun again and the magic called their energy to her in sparkling bands. It looked as if the northern lights had taken up residence in The Bronze. The delicious energy was making her warm, but she needed more.

The band Shy was playing and Willow summoned the lead singer to her side with the crook of a finger. She was lovely and moved like a predator through the copulating crowd. Willow smiled and ran her hands along her sides, letting her fingers trail seductively along her hips.

The girl had innate power, not as good as a magic user, but a meal all the same. Willow looked into the eyes of her prey and smiled. There was a tinge of awareness, of fight in this one. Oh, she was going to be so much fun. Willow surveyed the room. It was a thing of beauty as clothing was discarded and naked bodies writhed. Everyone was reaching toward something, driving higher. She giggled and pulled the dyed blonde girl into her arms.

"I bite," the girl said as she dug her nails into Willow's hips.

"I'm sure you do," Willow stroked the tip of one nail along the beating pulse in her victim's throat. "But, I can get what I want without hurting you. You don't really want to fight me. You want me to let you be in control."

The woman shivered as Willow unbuttoned two of the buttons of her sheer shirt exposing the dark purple bra beneath. Her hand came up and grabbed Willow's shirt and she tore it. Willow smiled and let the fabric slide down her arms to her elbows, the sweet rise of her breasts on view for one and all. Several of the groups near to them groaned and she felt a surge in the power they were surrendering.

"What's your name?" Willow asked as she discarded her shirt completely.

"Veruca."

"A pretty name with a nasty meaning. Latin for wart, I believe." Veruca nodded at Willow. "Will you promise not to bite me if I let you control the fun between us?"

Veruca sniffed her neck and licked along her jaw. Willow felt her body soften. This was going to be fun. She had quit really enjoying her meals so long ago. Veruca pulled her own shirt completely off.

"I won't bite you, but I get to do anything else I want." Veruca growled against Willow's ear. Willow leaned into her sculpted body and rubbed the raspberry tips of her nipples against the lace of the singer's bra.

"Do you mind if we float? I'd like to put on a show for the others." Willow bit lightly on her partner's ear lobe.

"I love a good show."

"Well, show me what you got." Willow said as they floated into the air. Veruca laughed and ripped away the remainder of Willow's clothing. Letting it fall into the crowd below them.

Willow giggled as they swirled and writhed. Veruca cupped her breasts from behind and squeezed, pinching the nipples between her fingers. It was the perfect touch of pain and Willow moaned and pressed back into her new lover.

"Like that, do you?" Veruca licked the shell of Willow's ear. "How about I can bite if I don't break the skin?"

Willow nodded and delighted as Veruca's teeth settled onto the junction of neck and body. The singer's fingers trailed along her naked body and slid to her hips. Willow's bare skin rubbed against Veruca's jeans as they rocked together. The singer's talented fingers slid over and pressed into her. It wasn't gentle, and Willow groaned as Veruca bit down just a bit harder.

She felt panic rise as Veruca slid one hand up and yanked her tight against her body. A low growl vibrated against her skin as she tried to pull away. Veruca shoved the fingers of her other hand deep into Willow's body and dragged her fingernails into the tender folds. Willow quaked and screamed out her release as Veruca drove her further and further with just her fingers.

Willow almost sobbed as Veruca released her neck. She felt tears trickling down her face. Something warm was taking root inside her.

"Do you want to come some more?" Veruca said as she petted at Willow's convulsing womanhood. Willow nodded, beyond rational thought.

"You're not yourself. Let me see the real you." The voice was compelling and Willow dropped the glamour. Her body flickered between the sweet red head she had been and the dark haired witch she had become. "Two natures. I can certainly understand that. Do you want me, sweetie?"

"Yes, oh, Goddess, yes." Willow whimpered.

"Then release me. Let me be myself." Veruca bit her earlobe lightly.

"Be yourself. Please." Willow thrust her body against Veruca's fingers. Veruca chuckled and nuzzled her neck for a moment.

"I'm gonna make you scream so loud."

Willow sighed as she felt fingers delve into her again. She giggled and bared her neck for Veruca. The sudden strike of the bite sent her into a whirl of passion. She didn't notice the trickle of blood running down her breast and dripping onto the crowd below. Her body sang with heat. She yowled in pleasure, as the fingers inside her seemed to elongate. They spun in the air surrounded by light and magic.

Willow closed her eyes and used her power to strip Veruca. Their naked bodies slid against each other, sweat slicked and struggling towards satisfaction.


	47. Evil's Butt Monkey

Giles watched as Xander paced. They had put his favorite programs on the telly, but he paced. He wouldn't rest unless they changed it to an educational channel. The boy had watched a documentary on the manufacture of paper and been busy taking notes the whole time. It was unusual and worrisome.

Buffy sat in the room with him while Oz paced in the hall. He didn't want her in a room alone with Xander in his altered form. Oz had tried to stop her. They had traded words for a few moments, but, in the end, Buffy had simply looked at him and tilted her head. There had been no further argument.

"Come on, Xander have some of this popcorn Mom made. It's so good." Buffy grinned and tossed a piece in the air only to catch it in her mouth.

"I ate a good meal. I need to study. Where did you put my books? I brought them with me." He looked around the room.

"The Watcher Brigade is checking them out." Buffy shrugged and tossed another piece of popcorn in the air. "Look, Wiley almost had him that time."

"She's handling the situation perfectly." Giles said to Oz. "She's trying to help Xander."

"I know that, but he stinks of magic and Willow. What if she's found some way to use him to hurt Buffy?" Oz said.

"She doesn't want to hurt Buffy." Xander said. "She wants her life back. She wants her man. She wants power to make sure he'll survive the spell she's going to cast. There are so many rats."

"What?" Giles stepped fully into the room.

"Willow, wants what's hers. She wants Oz. Buffy can't have Oz. It isn't right or fair. That's what Willow says." Xander looked up at them in confusion. "Oz doesn't love Willow because the slayer stole him away. She wants to kill the slayer."

Giles heard the small sound Buffy made. It was filled with pain. He clenched his fists as he thought of the spell work the young woman had done. She might be able to kill Buffy with enough power.

"How is she getting power?" He asked Xander.

"She borrows power from the dangerous ones and turns them into rats." Xander smiled. "She says she'll go back to being okay when it's over, when everything is right."

"What spells has she done?" Buffy asked her eyes darting toward Oz with concern.

"Willow designed them herself. She pulled aspects of the spells from several grimoires. But I studied them. I can write them down for you. They take a lot of power. She was too weak after protecting Oz to do the other one. She's looking for the power to do it now."

The low growl that broke from Oz froze everyone else in place. Buffy stared at him with concern. Giles watched as they moved slowly together. Oz wrapped her in his arms and she shuddered.

"I won't let her hurt you. I can track her. I'll stop her, Buffy." Oz said into Buffy's shoulder.

"I think we can break the hold the black magic has on her, but we won't have much time." Emma said as she looked at them all. The knock on the door startled them all. Joyce pulled the door open to see a lovely brunette about Buffy's age. Buffy started and pulled back from Oz.

"What do you want, Anya?" Buffy asked.

"Willow turned the Bronze into an orgy. I got there while she was at it. I guess the spell didn't work on me, but she headed out crackling with energy and left the place full of unconscious people. They need a slayer over there."

"Giles, get Faith over there. Anya, come in. I need to pick your brain." When Anya's eyes flared, Buffy grinned. "Not literally."

"Well, that's fine then." Anya stepped through the door slowly. "I think I'm safer here than out on the streets."

"Nice to know you're here to help," Buffy said.

Giles coughed as he watched the two young women. They seemed to be sizing each other up. Buffy tilted her head and smiled. It wasn't her usual sunny smile. It was the expression of a predator, a vicious one. He suppressed a shiver.

"You're the oldest being here. I'll bet you can help us figure out a way to save Willow. You do, and we have a clean slate." Buffy extended her hand and Anya stared at it for a minute.

"If I shake your hand I am agreeing to help you, but will you consider me culpable if we can't save her?" Anya stared at Buffy's face.

"No, but I figure you've been around longer than Angel and he knows a lot so you must know more." Buffy tilted her head and wiggled her fingers. Anya grasped it and they pumped their hands up and down in an exaggerated manner several times.

"Angelus is an amateur compared to me." Anya smiled at the vampire. "I'll do what I can."

"See if you can help Xander while we get our hunting party organized." Buffy pointed to Xander and Anya looked at him and blushed.

"I'll do my best." Anya walked into the room as the others watched on.

"Are you sure this is for the best?" Giles asked.

"We need all the help we can get, and Xander watches Anya like a starving man at a feast when we're in class. I think part of him might respond to her. Plus, ex vengeance demon, she's got to know stuff." Buffy looked up as Emma gulped. "She's powerless, human. You don't have to worry."

"She did come here to warn us of a situation that had no real bearing on her. She could be a great resource if she's willing." Giles said and nodded.

"I can fix him," Anya said. "She's been absorbing the power of his free will. He just needs a little booster and he'll get back to normal in no time. Are you sure you want him fixed though? He is uniquely malleable like this."

"Fix him," Buffy said quietly. "He's my friend not a puppet."

"You're the boss." Anya nodded and grabbed Xander's face between her hands. "I share my will with you freely."

She kissed him and a soft glow formed around them. He covered her hands with his own. They all watched wide-eyed as Xander pulled back and looked at everyone around him.

"Why do I always have to be evil's butt monkey?" He demanded. He looked at all the others. Buffy moved forward to hug him. He wrapped one arm around her, but he continued to hold one of Anya's hands.


	48. Wait, Cook, and Worry Oh my!

Buffy looked around the dining room and rubbed her hand on the side of her belly. Just a short while ago she had been in denial about the changes in her body, alone and terrified. The world around her had seemed so dark. Now, Oz was with her, warm and living. Their first children were nestled safely inside her. Her world kept changing and flipping on its ear.  
She had been sure of her best friend, sure that Willow would always stand with her. She bit her lip, trying to wrap her mind around all the changes while the others prattled on. There was a good Giles type word, prattle. She wanted to save Willow, but Willow wanted her dead. It was baffling.

"We need some way to restrain her," Xander said. His voice broke through her silent reverie and drew her back into the conversation. "It's Willow. We have to try to stop her."

"I want to save her, too." Oz said quietly. "But, if there's a choice, I'm sorry. I won't lose Buffy to save Willow."

"There may not be enough left of the Willow you loved to save her anyway." Anya shrugged. "This kind of magic takes huge tolls on the user, and she made rookie mistakes. When you work dark magic with a partner, it alters you, binds you to each other. If she's killed someone, she'll be a succubus forever."

"What the hell did she do?" Xander ran a hand through his hair. He was visibly shaking. Anya touched his shoulder and he closed his eyes.

"She used a vampire to attack a slayer magically. She wiped the memories of several people. She made a wolf and his mate near immortal..." Anya spouted the list without any reticence. "She's been robbing power from all and sundry."

"She did what to Oz and Buffy?" Joyce asked as she looked at her daughter.

"Well, short of a beheading. They aren't going to die or age much. It's really dark magic to remove living creatures from their temporal connections. Their children will be locked outside of the natural way of things as well. I'm sorry." She looked at Buffy and Oz with an odd expression.

"There will be a way to undo it." Luckenbill said with calm authority.

"Yes, it will probably kill the babies though. It's a miracle the first spell didn't." Anya said, irritation obvious in her tone. "You should rejoice. You will most likely be the first watchers to have a slayer outlive them and still get to die a natural death."

"My children aren't mortal?" Buffy asked thinking of her babies and their brothers and sisters.

"Mortal, not mortal, that's a fuzzy area. You can be killed. You won't age much, but your children should be fine until their powers set somewhere in early adulthood. Your research assistant here,"she gestured to Luckenbill. "Hasn't considered the possibility that undoing the spell could cause a great deal more harm than good. There are ways to temper it without causing the harm. There are spells that bind mates to the stronger life force, like a wolf mating. Your children would be able to live and love and fight the good fight for a very long time. Now is not the time to act. You need to give birth first. Magic treats an independent entity differently than a parasite."

"My babies are not parasites." Buffy glared at Anya.

"You say tomato and I say tahmahto." Anya looked at her and winked. Buffy fought back the urge to flatten her. The ex demon was trying to help. She knew that.

"Can we temper what Willow has done to herself?" Oz asked as he wrapped his arms around Buffy.

"Probably the best bet. She could surrender her original fate to those harmed by her magic and accept responsibility for the damage. She'd still be linked to tall, dark, and broody, but she would have a chance at redemption. It's all semantics if she's killed a living being, then the only option is for Buffy to do her job."

Xander looked at her with wide, frightened eyes. Buffy rolled her neck. She could feel the weight of this situation falling on her like a ton of bricks. She leaned back against Oz and enjoyed the warmth of his body. He was quiet and steady.

"I can track her from the Bronze," Oz said. "I have a feeling we need to get a move on. Willow isn't going to hesitate. Her mind is made up."

"The less magic we use the better," Emma said. "She might be able to sense us if we go in with active spells."

"We need to get the drop on her. I don't want this fight to drag out. Every minute we fight her narrows her chance of getting out of this in one piece." Buffy looked at the serious faces surrounding her. "Faith and Cordy are handling patrol. I want this done tonight."

"Why aren't Faith and Cordy coming with us?" Xander asked. "We have a better chance with a not so pregnant slayer."

"If she's beyond our help, Faith will take her out."Giles said quietly.

"The world comes first, Xan. It has to. Faith doesn't love her like we do. They've never really bonded. She'll take her down hard and damn the consequences. I will try to save her if its possible. So, which slayer do you want on this hunt?"

"I want both. I think we stand a better chance of stopping her if we have both of you, and if she needs to be killed," Xander paused and swallowed. "It shouldn't be you. You shouldn't have to kill Willow."

"If she needs killing, I'll do it." Angel said with grim finality. "This is my responsibility."

"Yeah, and what's one more friend on your conscience, after all?" Xander snarled.  
Angel stepped back from the group and looked at Buffy with all his suffering on display.  
Buffy turned away from him and walked over to the things she and Oz had brought back from the rift. She wanted time to go through them. She pulled up a white fur and rubbed her face in it. She could smell Oz's now familiar scent mixed with her own. He came up behind her again and rubbed her shoulder with easy affection. She held up the fur and he reached out to touch it. Memories flooded through her mind as they touched the large fur. Buffy locked eyes with Oz and felt a blush rise on her cheeks, a good deal of the memories were definitely for adults only. Oz grinned at her, confident and happy.

"You hunted the damn things even though I didn't want you doing it," he said.

"I needed the challenge. No vampires, no demons, I needed the hunt." She smiled and touched his cheek with her free hand. "Your beard is just a shade darker than your hair."

"Don't get me started on the hair." He said and raised one eyebrow. She giggled and burrowed into his arms, half wrapping the fur around her. Blue and green lights swirled around them and she looked up at him as memories of their first time together hit. Their gazes locked and the world fell away. "Just one wave in the ocean."

"They're back." Her finger traced along the spiral she could sense under his shirt.

"So, you've been breaking down the original spell." Anya clapped her hands quickly together. "Good thinking. Can the rest of it be neutralized? It would help her chances."

"I might be able to undo the spell, but it won't be easy. I'm not sure we have that kind of time available." Giles said stoically.

"Then we need to split up," Buffy said, taking command. "You can head back to the mansion with Faith, Cordy, and Emma. I'll take Oz, Xander, Angel and Anya with me. Mom and Lucky here get to run command center."

"I didn't agree to fight an out of control witch." Anya stood up and glared at Buffy. "I'm mortal now. She could kill me."

"You came to us because we will help keep you alive, but you have to earn your keep. A witch is nothing compared to a brassed off slayer. Are we clear?" Buffy snarled and her eyes flashed as she stepped toward Anya. Anya sat down in the inning room chair and nodded meekly.

"Buffy, she has helped. She gave me back, well, me." Xander said.

"We need more magic users than we have on this one. Anya knows the spells that might help Willow. The others don't. We need her. I want her back, Xander. I want our Willow back."  
She stood and looked at her friend until he nodded.

"Since I am going on the dangerous mission, may I suggest we move it along. Unnecessary emotional exchanges delay us and give her time to find new power sources."

"Yeah," Buffy said with a toss of her blonde mane. "We'd better get moving. Faith and Cordy should be hitting Shady Rest about now. Do not go to the mansion without them. Okay?"

There were nods all around and the two groups parted. Giles led his crew toward the back door and the car. He looked back at Buffy standing next to Joyce and smiled.  
"Do take care. I want to dangle those children from my knee." He said softly.

"And snog my mother senseless." Buffy smiled as she followed her team out the front door. "Don't worry. Oz will keep me safe."

Joyce and Luckenbill stood together and listened as the doors slammed shut.  
"What shall we do now?" He asked her.

"Wait, cook, and worry. Then cook some more. Xander is back." Joyce smiled and headed toward the kitchen.


End file.
